After nine years of spirited implementation, competency-based education eventually knocked on Grade 9 doors. Ministry of Education policymakers are now having sleepless nights trying to develop a smooth transition to senior school. This year, Grade 8 students joined Grade 9 in the Junior Secondary Schools (JSS) under the new Competence Based Curriculum (CBC).
Plans are advanced to ensure that the three pathways, which are designed to cater to different student interests and career aspirations, namely Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM), arts and sports science, and social sciences, get the right landing in nationwide schools.
As the Ministry of Education works on school infrastructure, the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) has been urged to consider retooling primary school teachers. An in-depth survey done by Education News across four regions revealed that there is an urgent need for retraining teachers.
This is necessitated by the continuous and regular changes that the Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development (KICD) injects into the Competency-Based Curriculum.
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The survey has brought to light some alarming situations, such as the fact that some teachers have not participated in retooling exercises for the past nine years. This is exacerbated by the absence of insets (cluster or zonal training on specific learning areas). Even among the cohort that has been retooled, educators feel that the training was insufficient to make them fully CBC-compliant.
“I was trained on approaching the new curriculum eight years ago. My training only lasted for four days, which did not make me fully aware of the methodology to perfect CBC,” lamented one senior teacher in the Nyanza region.
The same clarion call was received from a head teacher in the Western Kenya.”The head teachers were trained for two days on the legal framework and rationale of CBC. Most of us find it hard to monitor curriculum implementation as it should be,” he said.
Primary schools are the foundation on which the success of CBC is anchored. The eight years (two in early years and six in primary) are critical as far as CBC consumption is concerned. It is thus incumbent upon the TSC to request funds that will facilitate continuous retooling of primary school teachers. This will bolster the success of the CBC.
By Kaptich Tarus.
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