Taita Taveta Senator Johnes Mwaruma has called on the government to scrap off the Competency-Based Curriculum (CBC) and instead revert back to the 8-4-4 system.
Speaking at Moi Stadium in Voi town during protests against the Finance Bill 2023 on Monday, Mwaruma said that students in Junior Secondary Schools (JSS) are being wasted and that the government is destroying their future.
He noted that there were insufficient JSS teachers thus most students were not being taught.
“The students are in school but they don’t have teachers. In JSS, there are 14 subjects but most schools only have one teacher. The government is destroying this whole generation,” said the Senator.
Speaking to Education News via phone, Kenya National Union of Teachers (KNUT) Taita Taveta branch Executive Secretary Lenox Mshila echoed the Senator’s sentiments adding that most JSSs have insufficient books, which affects learning.
He noted that one JSS teacher is supposed to handle about 14 to 21 students but currently, one teacher handles up to 70 students per teacher.
“Each teacher depending on specialization should teach three and a maximum of four subjects. In every school, we need a minimum of 4 teachers to handle the 14 subjects effectively,” he added.
He urged the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) to fast-track deployment of teachers to JSS schools to bridge the gap witnessed in most schools in the region.
However, the KNUT boss asked TSC to consider taking teachers to regions where they are comfortable to work from, especially in or near their home counties.
Mshila reiterated that the government should provide JSS schools with the curriculum requirements saying that most parents have turned their backs on CBC because it demands a lot from them.
“Some parents have now turned their backs on CBC because they feel it’s demanding a lot from them. This is affecting our students because if the schools don’t get the materials they require to facilitate learning, then we will be wasting our children,” he said.
By Michael Oduor
oduormichael2021@gmail.com
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