This archive report was first published on 15 July 2019.
On July 15, 2019, Kenya National Union of Teachers (Knut) made a significant U-turn in its stance on the new curriculum talks. The union had earlier threatened to boycott the talks but has now directed its 110 executive secretaries across the country to participate in the process.
According to Knut Secretary-General Wilson Sossion, the forums will enable teachers to articulate their position on the curriculum review process. Sossion emphasized that their participation in the process is not an endorsement but to highlight concerns they have as a union on the new system rolled out this year in Pre-Primary 1 to Grade 3.
"We will be in those forums to tell the country that the new curriculum is not working unless we follow the right procedures," said Sossion.
The exercise was launched on Monday in Nakuru by Education Cabinet Secretary Prof George Magoha. The ministry aims to enable Kenyans give their views on the new curriculum that has replaced the 8-4-4 system of education.
Earlier, Knut had insisted that the implementation of the new curriculum be suspended until 2024 to allow time for talks. The union had also proposed a four-pronged approach of implementation of the new curriculum, which could have seen piloting continue in 2020 and 2021 while formative, internal summative and external summative evaluation reports be concluded by 2023 to allow for national implementation of the revised curriculum in 2024.
