By Amoto Ndiewo
Garissa Kenya National Union of Teachers (KNUT) chief Abdirizak Aden has raised concern at the direction the public discourse is taking amidst professional negligence by the Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development (KICD) and Teachers Service Commission (TSC).
He said that KICD had relegated English and Swahili despite the unimpressive standards in both languages.
‘ In the 8.4.4 system, English and Swahili had seven and six lessons per week respectively yet in CBC, the two crucial subjects have been allocated three lessons per week,’ Aden said.
Currently, only classes 7and 8 in primary schools are being taught in the 8.4.4 system and this means in 2024, the 8.4.4 system will be phased out in primary schools. From 2024, upper primary school teachers will be teaching grades 4, 5 and 6.
‘’These classes will weigh heavily on the primary schoolteachers as CBC has a huge work load given the test put on the teaching staff to identify competence ,’’ Aden added .
He argued that with the introduction of new subjects in the CBC, TSC should employ more teachers before the crunch in 2024.
‘Teachers are still maintaining the same number of teaching hours and doing 40 lessons per week hence the need for more teachers has become more important,’ Aden said.
Subjects taught in CBC are English, Kiswahili, Mathematics, Science and Technology , Social Studies , Religious Education , Home Science , Agriculture , Art and Craft , Music and Physical and Health Education .
The KNUT chief pointed out that there was disconnect between the KICD, TSC, and the Ministry of Education and the teachers.
He urged TSC to relax autocratic rules and allow teachers to register as union members.
