- Usawa agenda executive director Emmanuel Manyasa said the anxieties around transition are occasioned by placement formula and infrastructure.
- Kuppet secretary General Akello Misori also demanded that the three teachers' unions be involved.
Image: ANDREW KASUKU
The new curriculum task force will have myriad issues to be addressed in the six-year-old Competency-Based Curriculum.
This includes junior secondary transition, infrastructure, and the number of teachers.
In CBC, learners spend 2 years in pre-primary, 6 years in primary, 3 years in JSS, and 3 years in senior secondary.
During his inauguration, President William Ruto said the first initiative will be public participation.
“It will collect views from all key players in line with the constitutional demand of public participation,” Ruto said.
Parents, who decry to be the most affected, will now be represented in the new task force.
“We are particularly alive to the anxieties of parents on the twin transitions in January next year,” Ruto said.
Parents have also raised concerns about the idea of JSS learners going to boarding schools.
However, the ministry of education clarified that day schools are preferred, to boarding schools.
This is because the learners in Grade 7 will be between 12-14 years.
Usawa agenda executive director Emmanuel Manyasa said the anxieties around transition are occasioned by placement formula and infrastructure.
Manyasa told the Star that the main issue is the transition of grade 6 learners to grade 7.
“The number of teachers available is small to implement CBC, it requires close attention from teachers than 8-4-4,” Manyasa said.
He added that Ruto’s government should also prioritize funding of the curriculum.
“The whole issue of financing, CBC costs more than 8-4-4 so we need a clear plan on financing,” he added.
Ruto’s government promised to deal with the teacher shortage in two years.
The president and his Kenya Kwanza team promised to hire 58,000 teachers per year at a cost of Sh25 billion.
“Ensure that teachers are equipped to deliver on their mandate through a sustainable increase in the supply of qualified teachers,” the manifesto reads.
This, they promised to implement through government-backed training, recruitment, and continuous capacity-building policy.
Kenya Union of post-primary education teachers expressed their interest in being part of the review team.
Kuppet secretary General Akello Misori also demanded that the three teachers' unions be involved.
"To succeed, every education system must get the goodwill of all stakeholders including the government, teachers, learners, and all sectors," Misori said in a statement.
The three unions are Kuppet, Kenya National Union of Teachers, and Kenya Union of Special needs teachers.
More than 1.2 million students are currently in Grade 6.
This is the pioneer cohort of CBC and is expected to join junior secondary next year.
According to the ministry, 2.57 million students will be enrolled for Grade 7 and Form 1 during the double intake in January.
The new team will replace a 26-member task force chaired by Curriculum PS Fatuma Chege that was appointed in June 2019
Members of the task force included heads of primary and secondary, the Association of Private Schools, faith-based organizations, and civil society organizations.