• The government should continue engaging all the stakeholders.
• P1 teacher training college should also have trainees on such languages.
While the competency-based curriculum has come with its challenges, we need to appreciate one thing as a country: that the current education system requires overhaul and this new system is a step in the right direction.
The government should continue engaging all the stakeholders and address their concerns in an amicable way without necessarily having to issue threats that will ultimately affect the rollout.
Teachers should air their views without feeling intimidated but we need to see a sober debate on these cropping issues.
The three foreign languages that are to be introduced have been around, some like French are being taught in some secondary schools and I see no harm in introducing them at primary level.
We need to appreciate the world is becoming a small village and we should embrace this new idea while looking at the future benefits.
With intercontinental business,employment opportunities are opening up in the Far East, French and Spanish-speaking countries. It would be a letdown that our next generation of global entrepreneurs would be hiring people to interpret contracts for them.
It is paramount for the Ministry of Education to ensure there is sufficient public participation.
The government should ensure there is sufficient training of teachers. It should not be rushed as it is being done at the moment. Teachers must feel part of the journey so that their fears are addressed at every stage of the process.
The challenge that we have been facing is shortage of teachers to teach the common subjects and it is very important that the state through the Teachers Service Commission is ready to hire more teachers for the new subjects. It will not make sense to introduce subjects that will not be competently rolled out.
But do we have teachers who will be ready to teach these subjects? This is another area that the stakeholders should address well in advance . Maybe P1 teacher colleges should have trainees in those languages so that when rolled out the government will not be importing teachers.
Learners as well should be prepared enough for the new subjects .
The Gilgil MP spoke to the Star