The Cabinet Secretary for Education Prof George Magoha has implored the three-judge bench that is set to hear a petition to halt the implementation of the Competency-Based Curriculum (CBC).
CS Magoha was speaking on Wednesday the 23rd of March in Nairobi when he said that parents and the government as well, have invested hugely in the new Curriculum and there would be resentment if the CBC was overturned.
According to CS Magoha, parents would not take it lightly on the judges because students had spent more than seven years studying the new curriculum.
Magoha added that the judges should remember that they are humans and parents as well and urged them to consider the views of guardians when making their decision(s).
“The CBC is in court but the judicature comprises of human beings and I think that they too have children. They will have to consider that it is these children who are going to Grade Six and have been on CBC for eight years. They cannot be ignored…they would eat you alive and I do not think anybody will dare to disrupt the CBC,” said CS Magoha.
In addition, CS Magoha said that the curriculum would benefit the country greatly since it transforms the education sector has faced many challenges.
“The CBC is bringing us back to sanity, absolute sanity. Our children are being taught how to go through the University of Life as a whole as they should,” he added.
In December last year, CJ Martha Koome convened a three-judge bench made up of the following Justices:
- Anthony Ndungu
- Antony Mrima
- Hedwig Ongudi
The judges are set to hear the CBC petition that was filed by the High Court advocate Esther Ang’awa.
The decision was made following Judge Mrima’s determination that the petition was valid based on the concerns raised by the advocate.
“The petition raises substantial and novel issues required consideration by an uneven number of judges,” read part of the ruling then.
The Chief Justice then assigned the three judges who shall hear the petition.
The CBC has gone through a lot of debate but has never been stopped. It remains to be seen whether the judges will decide otherwise after the hearing.
TPD Stopped
The Labor Law Court has stopped the implementation of the Teacher Professional Development (TPD) that was set to commence this month.
In the Friday ruling Friday, the judges said that the programme intended is not valid because there is no TSC regulation on TPD.
“The teacher professional development will not be implemented because they fall short of the professional development programs prescribed by TSC,” read part of the judgment.
It has now been revealed that the disputed TPD is not issued through regulation on parliamentary safeguards,” said Brain Ongaya, a Labour Court Judge.
As expected, TSC did not respond positively to the ruling with the Commission’s attorney Timon Oyucho vowing to launch an appeal. He claimed that mistakes were made in the labour court ruling.
“The decision is under consideration. We are looking at areas where the judge made fundamental mistakes in law and facts. We will move the matter to court soon,” said Oyucho.
Garissa Branch KNUT Secretary Abdirizak Hussein responded to the good news saying that the ruling was a step in the right direction owing to the fact that the Commission never consulted anybody.
“Where did they involve the participation of the public? The ruling of the court shows how the government is unprepared in implementing the Competency-Based Curriculum (CBC),” said Hussein.
“The TPD was issued without any advice from any party meaning that teachers were left unprepared,” he added.
The Commission had threatened to punish teachers who could have missed out on the TPD training. With this in mind, the ruling could not have come at a more opportune time.
“Teachers can now relax and smile because the program was too expensive and they were to do it at their own expense,” said Hussein.
The Commission’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Dr Nancy Macharia had said that the TPD was going to benefit teachers by updating their skills and making them relevant in the teaching profession. However, it has been widely felt among teachers that this is not the case.
Some teachers also viewed the court’s ruling as a double-edged sword saying that earlier teachers had been told to continue with the TPD program while the case was being heard but now the TPD itself has been halted.
“This news will surely make my December holidays awesome,” said one teacher who chose to be anonymous.
Halting of the TPD is not the only dent to TSC’s operations with education consultant Mr Joseph Karanja having sued the Commission, KUPPET, KNUT, Kenyatta University, Mount Kenya University, Riara University and the Kenya Education management institute already sued in court over the TPD program.