The Ministry of Education through the State Department of Basic Education held a dialogue on Education Quality and Progress of Competency Based Curriculum (CBC) Implementation bringing together all education stakeholders to assess the progress of the new competency-based curriculum, challenges being encountered and ways of improving it.
This comes as the ministry plans to transition the first cohort from junior secondary school to senior school.
The event for Kirinyaga County staged at St. Faustina Kerugoya Girls High School, provided the platform for the ministry to explain different key education reforms by Kenya Institution of Curriculum Development (KICD), Kenya National Examination Council (KNEC), transition guidelines, teacher management and capacity building, and the emerging issues in the basic education sector.
Ms. Ann Ngatia, CBC assessment coordinator, singled out the challenges in the portals emphasizing that the ministry is doing all possible to address the issues.
However, she pointed out that the school administrators often wait until the last minute to upload the required data, which causes the system to become overloaded.
She encouraged administrators to provide feedback on system issues, as this would be valuable in improving future designs.
“Remember, this is the first time we have designed the portal for grade nine. So, whatever challenges arise, it’s important to note that we’re dealing with a lot of traffic—1.3 million learners—and a significant amount of detail being requested.
Therefore, if you’re facing major challenges, it’s crucial to let us know what’s not working. While we may address issues on our end, we also need feedback from the schools’ interface to make necessary adjustments to the platform,” said Ngatia.
Samuel Kiogora, from Teachers Service Commission (TSC), said the understaffing in junior secondary schools (JSS) is due to budgetary challenges, admitting that TSC has the correct data teachers required per county and will recruit on the resources available.
Mwangi Kanaiyu, the Kenya National Union of Teachers (KNUT) Chairperson for Kirinyaga County, emphasized that the immediate concern is preparing for the progression from grade 9 to senior school grade 10.
He particularly highlighted the shortage of qualified teachers in junior schools, as well as the issue of teachers who are not CBC compliant.
“We have agreed that there is a need to do urgent retooling so that we bring teachers who are employed on board to continue with the CBC the way it is supposed to be,” said Kanaiyu.
Kanaiyu also urged the TSC to review the promotion policy to ensure that teachers do not remain stagnant in one job group for extended periods, as this would serve as a motivating factor for them.
By Mutai Kipngetich
