Key reforms parents want Ruto task force to consider on CBC

A declaration by President William Ruto that the Competency-Based Curriculum will be reviewed by a task force has opened an avenue for parents to air their concerns about the new system.

The CBC is set to replace the 8-4-4 curriculum in a phased plan but it has faced a myriad of challenges since its introduction in January 2017.

Among the interventions parents want prioritised by the task force is the retraining of teachers on how best to handle the new system of instruction.

"From our side, CBC is a good thing and we support it. But the implementation part of it is what has caused problems," Parents Association chairperson Nicholas Maiyo said.

He said parents find the new curriculum too expensive likely because teachers may have made it that way for lack of better understanding of how it works.

"It's like teachers are interpreting it wrongly. Parents are complaining it's expensive because they are being told to do this, go download that," he said.

"Is it the interpretation of teachers that is making the cost of CBC to be high?" Maiyo posed.

A number of parents told the Star that teachers may have gotten it all wrong and made the CBC an expensive affair for them.

"Most teachers underwent the 8-4-4 system, if the training was done, was it sufficient? Can all activities be carried out in school from the materials offered in school?" Audrey Changwony asked.

She said this will also help achieve uniformity in the learning process as opposed to every parent teaching their child.

"I'm okay with it, my only concern is these numerous assignments we are being offered as parents," Emmy Chepkoech concurred.

"I think CBC is a good initiative but it needs some polishing in terms of not overloading parents and pupils with a lot of extra work. Some printing work is unnecessary and expensive to us," Fatma Roble said.

"Imagine asking parents in rural areas to take pictures of those working and printing them. In the village, most people don't have smartphones, how will their homework be assessed? Audrey posed. 

But others like Serah Mbuthia said CBC is here to stay and parents need to go with the flow as has severally been affirmed by Education CS George Magoha.

"I would like them to continue because our children are learning a lot outside the classroom. Is it expensive? Yes, but we started a tough journey and we must finish it." 

Serah said her Grade 2 son is getting Ds in cleaning, meaning he's learning at school what she has failed to teach him at home.

"Sometimes I see him painting or weaving, other times he carries items to cook at school. Not all kids are book smart, and besides, some of us performed well in subjects which we have no idea how to use in life," she said.

The conversation spilt over onto social media with parents in the comment section of one Facebook post echoing the sentiments on cost and burdensome homework. 

"After a long day at work, you go home to do homework as well. Shakers, drums, toy cars, flutes and one that annoyed me most is looking for clay. Where was I supposed to get it from?" Re Mumbi asked.

"CBC remains good so long as the government can provide the CBC materials to teachers," Otieno Erustus opined.

Eric Oronje said the government should increase capitation and employ more teachers to ease the pressure from parents.

Other parents like Grace Mwangi feel that teachers are using the CBC to exploit them.

"In many schools, teachers are using the CBC to extract money from parents. It's pathetic. It was brought to us prematurely," she said.

Kimilili MP Didmus Barasa held this opinion and called for the scrapping of the CBC, saying teachers were using it to exploit parents.

In a remark that drew hysteria at a funeral, the legislator alleged that teachers have wiped out chickens in homesteads by asking learners to bring them to school for practicals and then carry them home for cooking.

"Walimu wamekula kuku mpaka imeisha kwa maboma ya watu. Hiyo CBC tunataka iondolewe kabisa (Teachers have wiped out chicken in homes. We want it scrapped)," Barasa said.  

Maiyo said the Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development (KICD) requires teachers to use locally available materials as teaching aids.

But parents have been incurring expenses in procuring materials such as manila papers, glue and colouring pens to help their children work on class projects.

"We need at least one month for teachers to be retrained because most teachers don't understand. You go to school A, parents are happy with CBC and you go to school B, parents are sad."

Save for its costly nature, Maiyo said most parents love the new education system because it's nurturing their children's talents.

All they want is for homework to be made less cumbersome and the materials needed for the exercise reduced or provided in school.

"Our children are actually engaged, they are empowered for them to be ready to face the 21st century," Maiyo said.

Besides the cost aspect, parents also want the transition process into Junior secondary school reviewed. They want learners in Grades 7, 8 and 9 to be retained in primary school for three key reasons.

One is that children will be too young to join secondary school in Grade 7. 

Under the current plan, Junior Secondary education will take three years for learners aged between 12 and 14. 

"Grade 6 children should remain in Primary schools for the two years to mature up before joining the teens in high school," Clara Mumbe said.

The parents' chair and Julius Omanwa agreed with Mumbe on this and said it will also save them on school fees.

"Because if they go to secondary school, the fee structure for high school is different from primary, but if they stay in primary, we will not incur a lot of fees," Maiyo said. 

"CBC is good but why force parents to pay fees for six years in secondary school instead of four? Let the content remain but Grade 6 proceed to Grade 8 and 9 before joining secondary school," Omanwa said.

Audrey further said that some schools are not well equipped in terms of manpower and infrastructure to handle pioneer junior high school learners in January.

"Who will teach them? Is it secondary school teachers or trained primary school teachers? she asked.

The Teachers Service Commission (TSC) was allocated Sh2.5 billion in the 2022/23 budget to recruit more teachers and Sh1.2 billion to train them on the CBC.

The government has also since October 2021 been constructing 10,000 CBC classrooms at a cost of Sh8 billion to accommodate over 1.2 million learners who are expected to join junior secondary in January.

Magoha said a fortnight ago that the construction was 96 per cent complete and assured that the government's 100 per cent primary to secondary transition would be achieved without hiccups.

The plan is to have pupils join secondary schools in their locality in a grand scheme whose end goal is to scrap boarding schools in years to come.

But parents have questioned how schools will handle double intake as the current Standard 8 pupils will transition to Form One alongside Grade 6 learners who will be joining Junior secondary.

"How will the government handle marginalised areas as most of their schools are not equipped like in urban settings? Are parents willing to send their young children to boarding schools? Audrey posed.

"Gaps are too many and I hope the task force will seek to address them," she added.

David Otieno and Labadan Kioko said parents and teachers are the two most important education stakeholders whose opinions should be paramount in shaping the CBC.

They said those two must be adequately represented on the CBC task force.

"We have parents who are teachers, let them be given space for their input on behalf of teachers and parents in public participation," Kioko said.

Ruto said the government is aware of the anxiety parents are feeling over the twin transition of the last 8-4-4 class and the first CBC class in January next year.

"I assure all that there will be a solution to the matter before then," Ruto said in his maiden speech shortly after taking the oath of office as President.