The outgoing Education Cabinet Secretary, Prof George Magoha, published a 59-page bulletin to defend the Competence Based Curriculum (CBC), claiming that it satisfies the current market demands and that it should be implemented.
According to Magoha’s report, the CBC Implementation Bulletin Volume 1, the ministry’s efforts to reform the educational system would be weakened if the 8-4-4 systm was reinstated.
Magoha stressed that the printed newsletter was meant to serve as a forum for citizens to learn about and discuss the progress being made toward implementing CBC, as well as to voice their opinions on the topic openly.
He advocated strongly for education’s status as a collective responsibility, stressing the importance of all parties involved having a firm grasp on the system’s workings and their own roles in its operation.
CBC, Magoha underlined, is critical as its equipping the latest crop of learners with the knowledge and the capacity to learn and relearn.
“The current environment is radically different from what the 8-4-4 system of education was created to respond to. We are now in a knowledge-based society faced with constantly changing challenges, constraints and opportunities. This needs a new kind of education,” Magoha says in the bulletin.
When the government makes the necessary investments in CBC, he said, it would also realize its long-term ambitions for economic development, which is in line with President William Ruto’s agenda.
“Kenya has set in motion an ambitious but essential, review and reform of its education system. The goal is to equip the students with the requisite knowledge, skills and competencies that will enable them to contribute in meaningful ways to society,” Magoha stated.
Fatuma Chege, principal secretary in the ministry of education, echoed Magoha’s statement, saying that the government had continued to use a multi-sectoral approach in drafting the required policy documents and guidelines to aid in the seamless transition in CBC.
In her letter to parents, Chege emphasized the importance of equipping students with the values, knowledge, and attitudes necessary to successfully handle social, cultural, economic, and technological challenges on a local, regional, and global stage.
She elaborated by saying that parents should serve as role models but not take on their children’s duties.
Assistant Secretary for the State Department of Early and Basic Education Julius Jwan said that the Ministry of Education had made investments to enhance the classroom experience for children.
Jwan mentioned that he is working on more projects to provide students with more tools and reduce the cost of CBC.
Their message comes just days after President Ruto promised the country he would establish a task force to find deficiencies in the education system’s implementation
