Education since the colonial era had the primary purpose of safeguarding the interests of the colonialists.
It was to provide them with cheap labour and colonise the minds of Kenyan children who were brilliant.
These brilliant minds got lured by the white-collar jobs that were lowly paying.
The majority of the students that got average grades or those that failed in exams were trusted with non-white collar jobs such as drivers, farmworkers and merchants.
By using this criterion and creating that false sense of security among the intelligent minds in the white-collar jobs, the colonialists managed to use the failures and the averaged students to construct industries, agricultural firms, and do business-related trade.
It is this difference that led to the emergence of the 8-4-4 system to correct the matter by encouraging Kenyans to embrace careers that drive the economy like agriculture, sports, arts, business, fishing and livestock management.
The 8-4-4 system, initially created a level playing field in the university intake until recently when the system became exam based.
This led to the introduction of costly options like a parallel degree system for those who had money while the ones from humble backgrounds dropped out.
This highly eroded the gains that had been attained as the number of dropouts was increasing.
It is against such challenges that led to the change of system to skill-based (Competency-Based Curriculum.)
The system is designed with the objective that at the end of each learning phase every learner will be competent in areas such as communication and collaboration, critical thinking and problem-solving, imagination and creativity, digital literacy and citizenship.
The new system emphasises the development of competencies rather than on the acquisition of knowledge for exams.
To achieve this, the teachers must change the orientation from memorisation to the acquisition of skills and competencies for life solutions.
Teaching methods should include role-playing, study visits, home fun activities and other learner-centred approaches.
The teacher on the other hand is the facilitator, expert and guide to the learning process.
Students should be responsible for their learning through exploration and experience.
In CBC, parental support is very key.
The parent is expected to protect the child against any physical and emotional harm, feed the child, provide necessities and guide the child to make the right career choices.
This is a new normal since in 8-4-4 there was not much engagement of parents in teaching and learning.
In CBC, parents should be fully engaged in school activities.
CBC education system will live up to the aim of transforming education if collective efforts are put into practice between the learner, the facilitators, the parents or guardians and school management.
When a parent is engaged in their child’s learning, they work closely with the teachers and school management to instil competencies, skills, values and attitudes in the child.
Their role is also to monitor the academic progress of the child, identify areas of weakness and together with the teacher to ensure improvement in the child’s skills.
When parents are engaged, they provide informal education at home and in the community, which complements what the child learns in school.
It is not uncommon to hear parents complain that they do not know what to do with their children during long holidays.
Schools may need to reduce the amount of work that parents are expected to do in supporting home fun assignments and focus more on the learner.
CBC education system will live up to the aim of transforming education if collective efforts are put into practice between the learner, the facilitators, the parents or guardians and school management.
This will save Kenya from the effects of the unskilled population in the years to come.
Edited by Kiilu Damaris
