Education stakeholders have warned the public from comparing the competency-based curriculum and the 8-4-4 education system.
Kenya secondary school heads association chair Indimuli Kahi said that 8-4-4 and CBC have different structures of implementation.
Kahi spoke during an interview on Citizen TV on Monday where he responded to the workability of CBC.
“In CBC we are talking about a pedagogical approach to teaching and learning that is more children centred as opposed to teacher-centred,” Kahi said.
Despite facing hurdles in the implementation of CBC, the curriculum has its good side.
For instance, in CBC learners get to choose their pathways and pursue them to the end.
But for 8-4-4, learners have to pursue a respective number of subjects, whether it's part of their pathway or not.
“8-4-4 is a structure of education so we may not compare a structure and pedagogical approach,” he said.
By the time learners get to senior secondary in CBC, they select from a category of three pathways.
The available pathways are arts and sports science, social sciences and Science, technology, engineering and mathematics.
Learners at this level have been enrolled on university/tertiary education from the junior secondary level.
Under arts and sports science, learners pick sports sciences, performing arts and visual arts.
The social sciences category has languages and literature, humanities and business studies.
Pure sciences, applied sciences, technical and engineering and career and technology studies fall under the STEM category.
However, in 8-4-4, learners have a lineup of subjects to study in high school, which then guide them to select appropriate courses in universities/colleges.
But the main difference here is the preparation learners go through to prepare them for future roles.
In terms of pedagogy, learning sessions in 8-4-4 are more theoretical than practical.
Where learners stay in class the whole day studying different aspects which are given to them in written form.
But in CBC, learners spend most of their time conducting practicals of what they are taught.
For instance, Grade 6 learners were asked to demonstrate how to clean an environment.
They are taken to the nearest town to clean the streets.
