The Archbishop of the Church of God in East Africa (Kenya), James Obunde, has urged the Ministry of Education to adopt a more participatory approach to results-based education in order to address challenges facing the current Competency-Based Education (CBE) system.
Speaking during the church’s education workshop for the Kisii cluster at Mobamba Senior School in Masaba South Sub-County, Kisii County, the Archbishop called on education stakeholders to critically assess the implementation of CBE, identify existing gaps, and respond effectively to Kenya’s rapidly evolving education landscape.
“Whereas the transformation of the 8-4-4 system of education to embrace CBE was a noble idea, it has come with teething problems that need to be urgently addressed,” Obunde noted.
According to him, the new curriculum was suitable to kick-start an industrial revolution similar to the one realized by England in the medieval times.
The Archbishop rejected the notion that the country should revert to the former 8-4-4 education system, saying it was not too late to salvage the CBE.
He also appealed to ministry officials at both national and county levels to engage school sponsors on teacher transfer matters, noting that unilateral transfers of headteachers and principals are often disadvantageous to sponsors.
On the increased enrollment of students at Mobamba Senior School to over 2000, Obunde lauded the current efforts by the management and administration to transform the school into a center of excellence, which he credited to preference of the school by parents.
He singled out the installation of the requisite education infrastructure, improvement of national examinations performance and mainstreaming learning programmes into the policies of sponsoring church.
By Mercy Osongo
