Competency based curriculum took centre stage during a public participation forum convened by the Presidential Working Party on Education Reforms held in Lodwar.
The Prof Raphael Munavu led team listened keenly as passionate members of the public, mainly education stakeholders aired their views on education reforms.
Prof Munavu said the working party would collect public views and prepare an interim report by November 18. He added that members of the public were free to submit their views to ABSA towers, Nairobi or send their memoranda to the email secretariat@educationreforms.co.ke
“We need to own this process because all learners belong to us and we have a role to play in shaping their values, the structure of education, the content and the curriculum,” said Munavu.
He said the curriculum needs to be reviewed every five years to ensure it responds to the needs of the society.
The chairman also said that issues of marginalization, safety of children, feeding of students especially during the current drought were some of the issues brought up during the meeting.
Although the working party was also on a mission to identify areas that members of the public wanted reformed in the education sector including primary, secondary, Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET), special needs education, universities and adult education the members seemed to be bothered by the cost of learning materials and parents’ engagement in delivery of the curriculum.
County KNUT Executive Secretary Peter Ewaat said the CBC’s objectives of promoting community service, inculcating values in children and parental engagement were noble ideas.
“The main challenge is provision of teaching and learning materials. The government should allocate adequate resources to fund CBC programmes because this will help resolve issues facing parents and teachers,” said Ewaat.
On her part, Susan Aletia, a community leader lauded the president for embarking on public participation on education reforms within his 100 days in office but added that the previous regime should have started with public participation before introducing CBC.
“The government should have assessed the successes of 8-4-4 before changing it. We now need to look at the changes in CBC to ensure they are well thought out,” said Aletia.
Area KNUT chairman Kenyaman Ariang’oa regretted that perennial insecurity in the county had affected the delivery of CBC.
“We lost five CBC going children who were burnt to ashes in Napeitom and the school closed. The government needs to beef up security in the area,” he said.
He also rooted for banning of grazing of livestock in school compounds saying it was exposing children to insecurity.
He also identified water scarcity as another challenge in the implementation of CBC program.
Working party member Prof David Some asked members of the public to recommend reforms they would want implemented in public and education institutions.
By Peter Gitonga
