• Grade 4 designs and other teaching and learning materials such as textbooks and teachers guides in various learning areas are out.
• Professionally, teachers are adequately trained to handle any kind of curriculum.
There are no dangers in rolling out the Competency-Based Curriculum in Grade 4 next year as mentioned in an article in one of the dailies.
The new system of education 2-6-3-3 was rolled out in January for Early Years Education (EYE) level. The level covers pre-primary (PP1 and PP2) and lower primary (Grades 1-3).
The system, which is progressively being implemented, will see the current learners in Grade 3 proceeding to Grade 4 under the system. These are the same learners who were initially introduced to the system that was pilot tested in two phases. In 2017 and 2018, CBC was pilot tested in EYE level, unlike the 8-4-4 system that was never tested before its implementation in 1985.
The two phases of piloting helped the Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development and the Ministry of Education address gaps which were encountered in the piloting phases in line with the Basic Education Curriculum Framework after monitoring and evaluation were done.
The grey areas were improved on for the EYE rollout and also informed the preparations for the Grade 4 rollout. Already, Grade 4 designs and other teaching and learning materials such as textbooks and teachers guides in various learning areas are out.
These materials were made available to the public from June this year. The distribution of Grade 4 textbooks to public primary schools is almost complete apart from areas that were affected by heavy rains that pounded the country recently. It is, therefore, erroneous to claim that there is a need for Grade 4 piloting of the CBC.
In this discussion, one might wonder what is the essence of piloting a curriculum and why the implementation of CBC should be shelved while the system is up and running.
Nairobi