The war between KNUT secretary general Wilson Sossion and Education Cabinet Secretary Prof George Magoha has now taken a new twist after Primary school headteachers vowed to continue implementing the new curriculum, saying any shortcomings can be addressed.
Sossion has been engaging in a push and pull fight with Prof Magoha over the new curriculum, with Sossion arguing that teachers are not yet ready for the programme.
But Kenya Primary School Heads Association chairman Nicholas Gathemia says teachers are up to the task and should not be distracted.
“We have already started the journey of implementing this new curriculum and teachers are doing well. We hope to get more training as time goes,” said the chairman.
Several headteachers in Nairobi County said they are implementing the curriculum but asked for more guidance on how to assess learners.
Teachers also said they do not know what will happen to learners who perform poorly in assessments.
The teachers, who requested not to be named, said the system will be improved as most have now been trained.
“It will be hard to go back to the old system, since we have already discarded the learning materials and all that we have is for the new curriculum,” said a teacher in Nairobi.
But Sossion insisted that teachers do not understand what they are being forced to teach.
“Those who have been training them (teachers) do not understand the curriculum, so most of them are just doing guesswork,” said Mr Sossion.
A concern that had been raised by teachers was how to assess individual pupils. They pointed out that the new system was encouraging rot assessment in cases of classes with large enrollments of between 60 and 100 pupils.
A report by an external evaluator appointed by the Ministry of Education last year revealed that the government required Sh365 billion to start phasing out the 8-4-4 education system during the first four years of implementing the new curriculum.
Whom do you think will win this fight between Sossion and Prof Magoha?