By Amoto Dennis Ndiewo
Although the government says Competence Based Curriculum (CBC) is skill based and best placed to cure our past education ills, some pastoralists parents in Garissa are complaining that the curriculum is elitist, too expensive and taxes the parents in terms of time.
Speaking to Education News, the parents said the tasks given to learners to help from the parents are beyond them. They said most parents are either too busy looking for pasture or water for their livestock in far flung areas, hence cannot assist the learners.
‘’My children often come up with educational tasks for me to help yet I never went to school,’’ complained, Mohamed Gedi, a parent in a rural outpost of Hagarjerer in Mbalambala sub-county. He adds that the tasks the learners are given to do at home are too complex for him to understand. He notes that even if he went to school, he can’t take the role of teaching, yet the tutor is well-trained to handle the learners.
Abdi Khalid, another parent in Saka complained that the learning materials which the new curriculum requires are not available in the outposts.
“And in case such materials are available, they are simply too expensive due high transport cost in the outposts,’’ noted Khalid.
The same sentiments were expressed by Beatrice Mwende, a parent in Garissa town. She complained that so long as she foots the school fees in a private school, she wouldn’t expect the learners to load her with extra work at home. She said the tutors’ act of shifting school work to parents is an aspect of laziness on the part of teachers. Mwende admits that besides being ill equipped to perform such tasks, when she comes home from work she is dog-tired to begin doing school chores.
As much as academic experts Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development (KICD) have been stressing that Competence Based Curriculum (CBC) is panacea that will see Kenya reach the educational Mecca, he views it differently. This is despite the curriculum being based on pupils’ ability to study what best suits him or her.
But according to a senior head teacher, in Mbalambala, Mr Ahmed Khere, the demands of CBC are simply based on the independent variable or domains in values, knowledge, psychomotor skills based education.
“These are common sense issues and a parent doesn’t have to study rocket science to help a learner,” he noted.
While praising the teachers for a job well done, Education CS George Magoha blamed some parents for having abdicated their parental duties, adding that CBC presented them a chance to help in nurturing their children instead of running helterskelter looking for money.
