Mr Davis Chirchir, one of President William Samoei Ruto’s inner circle, has called for the removal of the Competency-Based Curriculum (CBC), the Teacher Professional Development (TPD) and the Teacher Performance Appraisal and Development (TPAD).
According to Chirchir, the three programmes take a lot of time from teachers hence affecting their ability to be creative.
He said that in the CBC, teachers spend a lot of time assessing, marking and uploading scores on the KNEC portal which is tiresome and an involving exercise.
“CBC controls the teachers by demanding a huge amount of reporting and constant assessment. A teacher’s mind cannot be creative when they are trying to make lesson plans, TPAD, TPD and KNEC assessments but also worrying that Nancy Macharia will transfer them if they don’t send the right documents,” said Chirchir.
The new government has already established a task force that is set to begin collecting views from the public which will inform changes to be addressed.
Chirchir was not alone in this, with Peter Kaluma, Member of Parliament (MP) for Homabay County also criticizing the CBC and calling for its immediate termination.
“Terminate CBC and reintroduce the 8-4-4 content as initially conceived. At KCPE, 8-4-4 trained pupils in Music and Music Instruments, Art, Craft, Masonry, Carpentry, Tailoring and Embroidery and Home Science,” said Kaluma.
Former KNUT Secretary-General Wilson Sossion, MP for Kimilili Didmus Barasa and Senator Bonny Khalwale have also been recorded in the past calling for the end of the CBC in schools.
The first groups of learners are set to join junior secondary school next year after sitting for their final examinations in primary school this November.
Regarding the TPD, President Ruto’s government pledged through their manifesto that they will pay for the training programme for teachers and relieve teachers of the burden.
At the moment, the TPD is ongoing and the teachers are required to pay Kshs. 6,000 for the introductory module that will end in December.