President Uhuru Kenyatta has maintained that the Competency-Based Curriculum (CBC) will enhance competitiveness in the country’s education sector as he addressed the 76th Session of the United Nations General Assembly on Wednesday, September 22, 2021.
The Head of State dismissed complaints by various academic stakeholders including parents who have alleged that the system will prove expensive.
“We have also delivered a national Competency-Based Curriculum and on universal access to schooling, which will further boost the competitiveness of our workforce,” President Kenyatta stated.
He noted that CBC is among the major achievements by the Jubilee Government, aimed at improving the quality of education in the country and producing rewarding job opportunities.
The Head of State told the delegates that the CBC system will transform the country, and that his government was determined to ensure its full implementation.
“We are implementing ambitious programmes to prepare the country to produce decent and rewarding jobs. Our investments in roads, air and port infrastructure, and critical health care facilities throughout the country, are the most extensive and ambitious in our history.
“Kenya is blessed with a youthful, well-educated, and productive population that has managed to build one of the most vibrant mixed economies in Africa,” he said.
Education Cabinet Secretary Professor George Magoha has been in the forefront in championing for the implementation of the CBC system, describing it as the most progressive thing he has ever seen.
“We have no apologies to make to anybody, this competency-based curriculum is here to stay. In my life, it’s the most transformative thing I have seen. I used to be worried that our teachers will compromise it. Even the teachers love it. To portray the government as if it does nothing, Ladies and gentlemen is being unfair. Don’t demonize me for saying so, the facts are there,” CS Magoha stated.
However, Law Soiciety of Kenya (LSK) President Nelson Havi and a team of lawyers have since moved to court to stop the implementation of the new curriculum.
In a petition by Advocate Esther Ang’awa, the Havi-led team argues that the curriculum review and introduction of CBC as a replacement for the 8-4-4 system was not done in accordance to the law.
Some of the prayers sought by the petitioner include; a halt of the implementation of the CBC and orders directing the relevant agencies to come up with new curricula guidelines and forward them to Parliament for approval.
“1st 2nd respondents to draw regulations in respect to policy and guideline on curricula in accordance with set laws and submit the same to Parliament within 90 days,” the petition read in part.