Education Stakeholders in the South Rift are pushing the government to urgently address the challenges surrounding the Competency Based Curriculum (CBC).
The Kenya National Union of Teachers (KNUT) Bomet branch Executive Secretary Desmond Langat says CBC faces numerous challenges which have slowed its implementation.
“We have mapped out several shortcomings of CBC, which, if not addressed, will cause problems. If we speak the truth, nothing is going on in public primary schools in the country,” he said.
Addressing a stakeholders meeting at St Mary’s Primary School, Langat decried understaffing, noting that some schools have only three teachers covering 14 subjects.
“The government should make an impromptu visit to understand the problem. You find a school with three teachers, covering up to 14 subjects. This is practically impossible. Even Angel Gabriel cannot do anything here,” he said.
He decried the lack of infrastructure, saying only 481 out of 692 schools have Junior Secondary Schools, which hinders fairness and equity in basic education.
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“In this CBC, infrastructure is key. As we speak, only 481 out of 692 public schools have JSS, while 211 lack the section. Yet we need fairness and equity as far as basic education is concerned. Now I am asking, when will learners in these 211 schools get JSCC?”
Langat revealed that many grade 8 learners don’t know how to read and write and demanded the recruitment of additional teachers, whom he says play a crucial role in CBC’s success.
“The success of CBC is based on teachers, so teachers should be hired as we wait for houses. As long as we have enough teachers, learning can continue, even under trees. Here, there is no teacher and no classrooms. As we speak, we have pupils in grades 6 and 7 who can’t read or write,” added Langat.
Primary schools in the county are in need of 570 teachers; the JSS shortage is 1,368, while the ECDEs shortage in the county stands at 1,058.
By Kimutai Langat
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