By Odiwuor Opiyo
NAIROBI, JULY 5, 2022 (CISA) – The Principal Secretary for the State Department for Implementation of Curriculum Reforms at the Ministry of Education, Prof. Fatuma Chege, speaking at the Catholic Schools Principals Association (CaSPA) Conference held at the Catholic University of East (CUEA) on July 4, urged the principals of Catholic-sponsored and owned schools to brace themselves for the transition of CBC learners from primary schools to junior secondary schools promising that 100% transition will be a reality.
“It is true that we will have double systems moving together as from 2023 for a consecutive 4-5 years till 2027,” she revealed affirming the government’s commitment to ensuring that the transition was a success.
Among the grey areas fronted by the principals in implementing the Competency-Based Curriculum (CBC) were issues of transitions, infrastructure in terms of equipment and learning resources especially their adequacy and criteria for enrollment into junior high school.
The PS revealed that the state department of curriculum reforms had developed guidelines for transition, and implementation as well as a framework for collaboration and coordination with partners and were awaiting publications of the literature so that stakeholders and the public at large can use them.
She further slammed the notion that the CBC model was costly especially to parents. According to Prof. Chege, the government is footing a majority of the cost and parents are not asked to cater for any supplementary costs required by learners adding that school teachers are asked to only use readily available materials.
Prof. Chege moreover intimated that evaluation and assessment in the new curriculum will be a facilitator and not a hindrance to parents and learners saying; “even in the East African Community, the assessment will be a facilitator of the child moving across borders with their parents,” adding that the competencies that a learner has acquired over time have, “to be captured by the Kenya National Examinations Council (KNEC) in a manner that it will provide reliable and believable evidence.”
According to her, the idea is to ensure that the Kenyan child is not isolated only in their country but can move across borders based on a dependable assessment system that is in good custody and recognized globally.
“I have very high expectations from this particular conference because… I believe that our engagement with these principals is going to calm their worries because when you are sure that something has to happen, the important thing is to prepare… and I believe that that is the inspiration that we are seeing in this particular conference and I believe it is going to make a change in the way they are looking at the implementation of the curriculum,” said Prof. Chege.
The 7th edition of the Catholic Schools Principals Association Conference (CaSPA) runs from July 4 to 6, under the theme “Catholic Schools: Centres of Spiritual Formation, Character Development & Lifelong Competencies for a Happier Society,” and is sponsored by Kenya Conference of Catholic Bishops (KCCB) Commission for Education and Religious Education.
