By Kipkemboi Toroitich
President Uhuru Kenyatta has lauded his government for the strides it has made in the education sector in the last four years.
Speaking during the 45th Kenya Secondary Schools Heads Association (KESSHA) conference in Mombasa, Uhuru said the Compentency-Based Curriculum (CBC) is his landmark achievement, saying it trained learners along their interests and capabilities.
Comparing it to rote learning, he said CBC is a departure from exam-oriented curricula, which emphasized on knowledge as an end in itself rather than application of that knowledge. He added that CBC will leave no child behind as each one’s talents are explored in a practical as opposed to theoretical frameworks.
“CBC nurtures the potential of all learners as it identifies their individual competencies,” the Head of State acknowledged.
He projected that at the beginning of the new academic year in a few days, over 9,000 children will be registered under the CBC programme.
In addition, the president said, his government had expanded infrastructure in schools – so far building over 6,000 classes across the country. He said by the time he leaves office, over 10,000 will have been built to accommodate the rising number of children joining CBC.
He also said that under his administration, many children had joined secondary school, crediting this to the 100% transition policy.
“Up to 90% of KCPE candidates have found places in secondary school owing to the policy and strengthening of day schools across the country,” he said.
On teacher recruitment, the president said 120,153 teachers had been employed by the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) from 2013 when he was sworn into office. This was in a clear reference to a preceding demand by a teacher Union official during the same conference that more teachers must be employed ahead of the admission of the pioneer CBC class next year to Junior Secondary School.
He said teachers enjoyed comprehensive medical covers for them and their families.
