Shortage of trained teachers and inadequate teaching materials are frustrating implementation of the competency based curriculum, a report shows.
The report by the Senate Education Committee questions the government’s preparedness when it rolled out the new curriculum last year.
The committee chaired by nominated Senator Alice Milgo said inadequate infrastructure due to extremely high enrollment in pre-primary and primary schools is straining the implementation of CBC.
“These serious challenges are related to provision of teaching and learning resources needed to successfully implement the CBC and the majority of schools face delayed distribution and delivery of textbooks,” reads the report tabled by Milgo.
The report follows a petition to the Senate by one Erick Kinyua urging the lawmakers to review the Basic Education Curriculum Framework by the Ministry of Education.
The petitioner sought intervention of the Senate to ensure that the ministry oversees and reviews CBC to improve its design and quality.
Kinyua further requested the Senate to direct the ministry to convene a national conference to receive and discuss, adopt, guide and resolve 2-6-3-3 system.
The government rolled out the 2-6-3-3 system to replace the 8-4-4 system in pre-primary and lower primary in January last year despite rejection by the Kenya National Union of Teachers (Knut).
Secretary general Wilson Sossion protested that teachers had not been adequately trained on the new curriculum and called for its shelving until all teachers were properly trained and schools equipped with necessary resources including textbooks.
The committee recommended continuous engagement of all education stakeholders - learners, teachers, parents, curriculum specialists, quality assurance officers and experts - to ensure that the views of the people concerned with the process of teaching and learning are taken into account during the improvement of CBC.
“The Ministry of Education should expeditiously set up and equip a research, monitoring and evaluation department to carry out research and identify the problems and deficiencies in the Basic Education Curriculum and provide up to date and reliable data to different stakeholders including Parliament,” the report reads in part.
The panel stressed the need for sufficient resource allocation for continuous training and capacity building for teachers, quality assurance and standards officers and curriculum support materials.
Reacting to the report, senators took on the government for implementing a new system of education without proper stakeholder engagement and adequate resources.
“What comes out adds to the confusion that is education management in this country. The government has never told Kenyans why they moved away from the 8-4-4 system of education to the new mongrel system that does not match with the East African Community (EAC) systems,” Bungoma Senator Moses Wetang'ula said said.
Wetang'ula while stressing the effectiveness of the old system said the government should have aligned the new system with others in the East African region.
The lawmaker said that the government should have adopted the 7-4-2-3 system of education used by Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda and Burundi.
“Instead, we have moved to a system that is neither 8-4-4 nor compatible with the East African region, isolating ourselves further,” he added.
Nominated Senator Getrude Musuruve emphasized the need to interrogate the new curriculum, saying it is too expensive for parents and the government.
“We need to interrogate this because there are many issues to do with the Competency Based Curriculum in terms of delivery and teacher competency, and it is taking in a lot of money,” she said.