This archive report was first published on 15 May 2020.
The Competency-Based Curriculum in Kenya is facing numerous challenges as the task force formed to resolve critical questions around its implementation prepares to exit next month.
Launched by Education Cabinet Secretary George Magoha in June last year, the committee was mandated to resolve questions on transition from one level to the next, staffing, teacher training, examinations, and admissions.
With only a few weeks to go before the end of the committee's term, and with Covid-19 having thrown the sector into disarray, questions linger on the implementation of the new curriculum, which is already at Grade Four.
Prof Fatuma Chege, the chairperson, expressed optimism that the task will be completed on time, despite the numerous challenges.
One of the new system's best-known and most popular characteristics is that learners will not be subjected to summative assessment.
President Uhuru Kenyatta laid the debate to rest during the National Curriculum Reforms Conference in August last year, saying no learner will be stopped from proceeding to the next level through exams.
He said grades seven, eight, and nine will transition to secondary school. However, despite this directive, questions about the change process and other issues linger.
The first CBC cohort will join secondary school in 2023, leaving the last 8-4-4 learners still in primary school. These will transit into secondary school in 2024 together with the second CBC cohort, creating a huge mass going into already congested secondary schools, which are also suffering from a chronic teacher shortage.
Considering the chaotic manner primary school teachers were trained for the CBC, it is worrisome that secondary school teachers have not yet been trained on the curriculum.
