Mandera starts new curriculum training

Teachers in Mandera on Thursday started training for the new Competency-Based Curriculum.

Training started countrywide on Tuesday.

The session got underway, despite Kenya National Union of Teachers secretary general Wilson Sossion's directive to teachers to boycott the training. He said it's a violation of the law.

Teachers Service Commission Mandera director Yusuf Abdullahi called the training a success, with attendance of more than 80 per cent.

Abdullahi said teachers drawn from the 279 primary schools in the county will be equipped with skills to implement the new curriculum that will replace the 8-4-4 system.

He said training for 25 curriculum support and champion officers started in January, culminating in the current training expected to close on Friday.

"The train left the station in January. We will implement the new curriculum to the letter and there is no going back. All grades of teachers from Grade 1 to 4 will receive this important training," the TSC director said.

He said by September, the curriculum will have been rolled out to Grade 4. 

Mandera Knut executive secretary Mohamed Kullow yesterday (Thursday) accused the government of rushing to implement the programme without properly engaging key stakeholders.

The train left the station in January. We will implement the new curriculum to the letter and there is no going back.

“The implementation of the Competency-Based Curriculum was hurriedly done before the majority of the teachers were trained on its contents and teaching methods," Kullow said in Mandera town. 

"The Ministry of Education and the Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development should suspend the system and shift back to 8-4-4." 

Knut is not opposed to the new curriculum, he said. 

He proposed that it should be implemented in 2020 when proper preparation of all the stakeholders is done and more teachers trained.  

The National Treasury has allocated Sh500 million for the training that is meant to enable teachers to manage the new 2-6-6-3 curriculum. 

More than 91,000 teachers countrywide are expected to be trained this month. More training will be held in August and December.

The director asked teachers to "work as one and deliver as one."

He said the new curriculum will ensure the standards of education in public and private schools are at the same level.

The ministry rolled out the system nationally in January from Pre-unit and Grades 1 to 3 after a piloting phase in 33,000 private and public primary schools last year.

A study conducted between January and March revealed that teachers were not sufficiently trained to teach the new curriculum.

(Edited by R.Wamochie)