Homa Bay teachers yesterday defied calls by their union not to take part in a course on Competency-Based Curriculum (CBC).
A spot check by the Star showed a number of selected teachers participated in the training.
At Homa Bay Primary School, officials from the Ministry of Education trained teachers from Urban Zone in Asego division.
The training for grades 1,2,3 and 4 started at 8am as scheduled.
Ninety-nine schools, including 35 private learning institutions, were invited for the course.
All the schools were represented.
Homa Bay County Education director Fredrick Kiiru said the county has 42 training centres.
Kiiru said he did not see any lapse in the training, adding that the exercise went on smoothly. “We expect to give a comprehensive report on the training progress at the end of day one but the exercise is currently going on without hitches.”
The Ministry of Education is training teachers on the delivery of the new curriculum.
The Kenya National Union of Teachers had last week called on its members to boycott the training.
Knut secretary general Wilson Sossion argued that teachers were not consulted before the government rolled out the exercise.
Homa Bay Knut branch executive secretary Cornel Ojuok relayed the message last Thursday and called on teachers not to attend, arguing that most schools do not have the machinery to manage the new curriculum.
“Most schools in Homa Bay lack a number of facilities including adequate teachers to enable them to comply with the programme. It would be prudent for the government first to recruit educators before the programme commences,” Ojuok said.
The unionist said the government has not employed additional teachers to support and undertake the new curriculum, noting that the new policies were being introduced without consultation.
“We’re asking our members not to attend that training because it’s not procedural,” he said.
