‘Stop distracting parents,confusing children hooked on CBC,’ says Education CS Magoha

NAIROBI, Kenya, Sept 14 -The Competency-Based Curriculum (CBC) has been in the headlines in recent days for all the wrong reasons. But Education Cabinet Secretary Professor George Magoha now says, ‘the transformative’ curriculum is here to stay.

“This competency-based curriculum is here to stay…in my lifetime it is the most transformative thing I have seen. I used to be worried that our teachers will compromise it but even the teachers love it,” said Magoha during stakeholders meeting at the Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development (KICD).

Parents among other stakeholders have raised concerns over the efficiency and cost of implementing the CBC saying they have been forced to incur unreasonable expenses. Magoha however refuted claims of costs saying that the government has fully funded the curriculum in order to ensure its success.

“When you see so-called experts saying you must fund. What is it they are talking about? What they should be asking is they need to challenge us to get value for money, but as far as the government is concerned it is on top of the budget. If we are to move in the same direction, why is CBC expensive? First of all, it is unfair for you to ask us to say how much it will cost to implement CBC. You should ask yourself how much is the government giving and is the government giving it,” he said.

According to the Ministry of Education, the government has provided all the relevant textbooks for the implementation of the CBC and even going to the extent of ensuring learners receive books on a ratio of 1:1.

Parents in some private schools have however complained that they have been forced to buy excess books beyond what is required.

“If you feel capable and take your children to private schools then you have to pay. My business is to ensure that the registered public schools where the majority of the children are, have textbooks,” he asserted.

Magoha however called on teachers to also ease the burden on parents in terms of expenses encouraging them to use locally available resources while teaching.

“Teachers in public, private schools….anything that should be printed should be projected in the school because every school has a means of projecting. If something needs printing and it is not working it is cheaper for the teacher to capture it and project,” he said.

The education minister further faulted a section of stakeholders of distracting parents and confusing close to five million children ‘hooked’ on CBC asserting that the train on the CBC has already left the station.

Parents have meanwhile been encouraged to take an active role in the education of their children with Magoha saying that it is the responsibility of not only the teachers to ensure children get a proper education but also parents.

“Every parent is intelligent, they must engage with their children whether they like it or not. That is why the children are behaving the way they are. Why are we making things very difficult? what do people want to do when they demonize one of the most important things that are supposed to be a presidential legacy project? If it is politics, excuse me, I don’t do it. Please leave me out of it,” the CS said.

The ministry is now expected to set up a team that will possibly provide monthly updates on the CBC implementation process.

Through the CBC teachers will be able to identify learner’s talents and potential in turn setting them out on various career paths such one in the arts as a musician or even as a technician.

According to the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) 228,000 teachers in primary schools have already been trained on the CBC between 2019 and February 2021.

A further 106,000 teachers are set to be trained in the next phase while 60,000 teachers will also be trained to facilitate learners transitioning to Junior Secondary School in 2022.