The Ministry of Education has dismissed claims that it rushed to implement the competency-based curriculum.
This is amid concerns raised by several stakeholders together with a court case seeking to quash the curriculum.
Speaking during a webinar, Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development assistant director Subira Neema said the reforms were taken through intense research and assessment.
“What probably our audience doesn’t know is when this process started, it started way back in 2005 and a lot of processes that were informed by research happened," Neema said.
The assistant director added that a pilot programme was conducted before the official national rollout.
“We started with a pilot in 2017 and 2018 and then we had the national rollout. From there, we have had grade-by-grade transition,” she added.
The curriculum has been implemented using a phase-in, phase-out method.
The pioneer class is in Grade 5 and will transition to Grade 6 in April. This will be the end of upper primary school.
Neema further said the current curriculum is aligned with social and political dynamics faced in the world.
“We know that these are not static, they change from time to time and therefore it is incumbent upon the Education ministry to then look at how it addresses the issues that arise,” she said.
Curriculum Reforms and Implementation PS Fatuma Chege urged parents to be supportive of CBC.
“The current reforms that are being implemented were envisioned in Vision 2030, when you want to draw a vision for your country, education becomes the core of your social pillar," Chege said.
He faulted private school heads who impose numerous books to be bought by parents.
“The schools which were demanding more books than the ones required by the ministry were identified and asked to pull out,” she said.
Ministry of Education director general Elyas Abdi said the country is adequately prepared to host junior secondary students in 2023.
The government is expected to create 37,000 new classrooms nationally to cater for the anticipated double intake of learners.
According to projections, 1.5 million new places (37,000 classrooms) should be created by the end of next year in secondary schools.
This is meant to deal with a looming shortfall that will be caused by double intake in 2023.
This is the year that CBC pioneer learners will be admitted to junior secondary schools after sitting the Grade 6 national examination.
-Edited by SKanyara
