By Wasike Elvis and Lucy Nyokabi
Kenya Union of Post Primary Education Teachers (KUPPET) Uasin Gishu Branch Chairman Sosthen Bellat has called on the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) should stop terrorizing teachers.
“We want TSC’s powers to be cut so that it can only deal with promotion and employment. It has to a lot of power and needs to be reduced,” he said
Speaking during a forum to present views regarding the Competence Based Curriculum (CBC) to the Presidential Working Party on Education Reforms, he said the teachers were already under scrutiny and supervision from parents, Boards of Management, TSC Quality Assurance and Standards Officers and even village elders.
Kenya National Union of Teachers (KNUT) Eldoret West branch boss Jacob Arusei expressed disappointment at how CBC was implemented initially saying it was done hurriedly and never went through all required stages.
“For any curriculum to be effective, it has to undergo nine stages and this one did not even go through the simplest of the stages, which is public participation. This shows the government was not ready for the same. The normal curriculum development process takes three years and sadly, it was piloted for only a year,” he said.
While speaking on the double transition slated for January 2023, University Academic Staff Union (UASU) University of Eldoret Chapter Executive Secretary Philip Chebunet said that Grade Seven pupils were too young to be in secondary school.
“We are proposing that junior secondary students should stay in primary school since they have the infrastructure. Kenya is not prepared for CBC. We must also go back and ensure that teachers are trained and content well prepared,” he said.
Chepkoilel KNUT Branch boss Sammy Bor said that the process of downloading examination papers from the Kenya National Examination Council (KNEC) portal for students was cumbersome and expensive.
“This curriculum asks us to download examination papers which cost up to Ksh200 per student and finances are inadequate,” he said.
He urged the government to make sure resources and training is adequate before proceeding with implementing the curriculum.
John Koech, a parent from Soy said that CBC was a good curriculum but it was hurriedly done and needed ample time for implementation.
“The government ambushed us and sincerely speaking the CBC curriculum is very expensive and it’s hard for us to afford the things we are being told to buy. My opinion is that it must follow due process before its implementation,” Koech said.
Prof. David Some who represented the CBC review taskforce said that apart from issues on CBC, the other burning issue was funding of universities.
“We have received a lot of data and recommendations and two issues have been raised numerous times, one is the transition of Grade Six students and the funding of universities,” said Some.
