Newly sworn in Education cabinet Secretary, Prof. George Magoha has an high-end task that lay before him as he works on taking over from what is counterpart Amina Mohamed who has moved to Sports.
The continuous teacher strikes, the exam cheating menace which is currently being arrested,students pregnancies and the headache of new curriculum.
Ugunja MP Opiyo Wandayi has asked Education CS Prof George Magoha not to rush with the implementation of the new education curriculum.
Wandayi said education is a broad and a serious field that needs adequate preparedness not only for teachers but for all stakeholders.
Addressing residents in Ugunja on Saturday during the funeral service of Esau Benjamin, Wandayi disclosed that already an audit report about the new curriculum is on his table.
The Ugunja MP said the report by the Knut chair on the new curriculum has raised very weighty issues that cannot be swept under the carpet without review.
Earlier Knut Secretary General Wilson Sosion warned that as teachers, they are not comfortable with the new curriculum before adequate preparedness.
But Magoha has insisted that his first priority assignment as the Education CS is to implement the new curriculum in the shortest time possible.
The former Education CS Amina Mohammed had suggested holding the reforms on education system until January next year, a move that has been ignored by Magoha.
Amina denied that the system had collapsed or been suspended for lack of money and resources.
She had also told the Senate Education committee chaired by Uasin Gishu Senator Margaret Kamar that the new system, which has been piloted in select schools, had faced many challenges.
They include a lack of necessary infrastructure, enough properly trained teachers and required teaching materials.
“We are not ready to roll out the programme throughout the country. The worst that can happen is to roll out what we are not comfortable with. The design is fantastic, but the devil is in the details of implementation,” Amina told the committee. It was attended by senators Sam Ongeri (Kisii), Okong’o Omogeni (Nyamira) and John Kinyua (Laikipia).
During the pilot phase assessment, the KICD officials were supposed to work together with ministry officials, the Kenya National Examination Council Officials, and the TSC.
According to the early assessment report by KICD, the quality of the competency-based curriculum (CBC) implementation stood at 56 per cent.
This is six points above the minimum threshold set out for global standards for such an exercise set at 50 per cent.
Teacher assessment feedback based on learners’ achievement stands at 50 per cent, while the quality of the learning environment and support for the CBC stands at 62 per cent.
Those familiar with the curriculum reveal that budget constraints hugely contributed to what some call the suspension or collapse of the curriculum.
The new system also suffered a lack of multi-agency cooperation and poor public awareness during the pilot period.
