President Ruto proposition for a CBC taskforce ignites mixed reactions amongst stakeholders

The debate on the implementation of the Competency-Based Curriculum (CBC) rolled out in 2017 has ignited mixed reactions among stakeholders ahead of the planned establishment of a new task force to review its implementation.

During his inauguration on Tuesday September 13, 2022, the President announced that he will be forming a new task force to probe the CBC and take into account public participation, just a year since similar team appointed in 2019 submitted a report to President emeritus Uhuru Kenyatta with several recommendations.

“We will establish a working group on education reform within the presidency which will be launched in the coming weeks. It will gather the opinions of all key players in accordance with the constitutional requirement for public participation. We are particularly sensitive to the anxieties of parents over the twin transitions of the last 8-4-4 class and the first CBC class next January. I assure you that there will be a solution to this problem by then,” said Ruto during his inauguration speech at Kasarani stadium.

While some believe the system should be scrapped out completely, education experts said it will be prudent for the new task force to look into the recent CBC task force report released last year for improvement even as they engage stakeholders before making new recommendations.

“We cannot make up for our errors by punishing the more than eight million children who are under CBC because of our mistakes. The double transition of Grade Six learners and Standard Eight candidates requires a solution. We should find a solution to the double transition of Grade Six learners and Standard Eight candidates.” Jonathan Wesaya, an education expert noted.

Wesaya said that for the curriculum to be successful, stakeholders should have examined the philosophies on which it is based and established its aim before putting it into place.

Another education expert Janet Muthoni echoed Waseya’s the sentiments saying CBC issue should be treated with caution because parents and the government have put a lot of money in it.

“The conversation that the President has requested I want to believe is not about scrapping CBC or continuing with it, but it’s a conversation about looking at what has worked and improving on it and what has not worked so that we see how to fix it, the conversation requires a higher level of responsibility as it involves children and parents who have invested a lot.” Muthoni said.

Former Kenya Union of Teachers (KNUT) Secretary General Wilson Sossion teachers ought to have received high-quality training prior to the implementation of the CBC programme, which he says was not the case.

“When Amina Mohamed, the former Cabinet Secretary for Education, received a summative report from experts that had been assigned that the country was not ready and if we needed to roll out the CBC we needed more time to prepare, it was agreed to postpone it, but within a few days, the CS was removed and business cartels took over.” Sossion stated.

They spoke during a morning show in a local TV Station.

The Cabinet Secretary for Education Professor George Magoha has been carrying out the recommendations from the previous year including the administration of the Kenya Primary School Education Assessment summative assessment for students in Grade Six and the placement of junior secondary in secondary schools.

“The 8-4-4 system was introduced more than 30 years ago and although it provided the foundation for expansion, the CBC system is the way to go,” said Magoha.

As a result, subsequent discussions between stakeholders and the ministry resulted in the ministry’s approval of the establishment of junior secondary schools in private primary schools.

The education ministry identified 1,500 primary schools to share a complex with secondary schools after a proposal to combine primary and secondary schools’ grounds to house junior high schools.

Stakeholders have continued to express conflicting opinions, with some calling for the revert to the 8-4-4 system and others opining that the current CBC programme will make a decent system if well executed.

“Focuses on nurturing the unique talents and abilities of a learner as opposed to examination scores,” the Kenya institute of Curriculum Development (KICD) CEO Charles Ong’ondo confirmed.

Prof. Fatuma Chege, the Principal Secretary (PS) in charge of curriculum revisions and execution, who appeared to be in tandem with the program, voiced optimism in the curriculum when she claimed that in a few years, CBC results will change. She expressed that the ministry has done everything necessary to ensure successful implementation.

“It is worth noting that we have come a long way as far as CBC implementation is concerned. We remain focused on our mandate to coordinate the implementation of curriculum reforms across pre-primary, primary, secondary and tertiary education levels.”

Early Learning and Basic Education PS Julius Jwan backed laying the groundwork essential for the CBC’s goals and objectives to be realized.