Indimuli Kahi: CBC is good but taskforce must ensure a seamless shift from 8-4-4

Mr Kahi , while speaking with Citizen TV on Monday, said that CBC cannot be scrapped off owing to the fact that it allows children pick different pathways as compared to the customary 8-4-4 system.

"The curriculum is good, it is important for us to look at it. You cannot compare CBC with 8-4-4 because CBC is a pedagogical approach that requires us to identify competences and allow children to pick different pathways while 8-4-4 is a structure," said Kahi. 

"In my opinion we cannot at this point in time talk about scrapping CBC."

Albeit lauding the system, Mr. Kahi called for reforms to be implemented by the CBC taskforce to ensure that there is a seamless transition in schools as they move from the 8-4-4 system. 

"I would want the CBC taskforce to look at the transition, the financing of the entire program and the good capacity building plan where there is teacher recruitment, retuned and trained," he said.

"The curriculum interpretation must also be looked at so that we eliminate some of this misconceptions and misunderstandings where children are given activities that can be well done in an alternative way."

The KSSHA boss however did not enjoy an easy time during the interview, as he clashed with education expert/analyst Kennedy Echesa who opined that CBC is an impractical program and that it was designed to favor the wealthy in society.

Echesa argued that the system should be scrapped if at all the program remains unaffordable and inoperable.

"We must demonstrate that CBC is working if it has to continue. I have demonstrated that CBC is a curriculum designed for the rich, it is out of reach of the ordinary parent. One of the elements of the right to education is affordability and if an education system is not affordable to all and sundry then it must be abandoned," said Echesa.

"This thing is not practical and the more we insist on implementing CBC from our big offices in Nairobi the more we suffocate children in the rural areas who are the majority."

The latest lies on the backdrop of President William Ruto's pledge to make considerable changes to the program in an effort to ease anxiety among parents who remain skeptical about the syllabus.

As it stands, the maiden CBC class is slated to transition to Junior High School (JSS) in January 2023 but there is a shortage in critical infrastructure, such as dormitories and laboratories, that would have helped facilitate the said transition.

Incumbent Education CS Prof. George Magoha has managed to commission the construction of at least two classrooms per school. The classrooms were primed to be used by the first cohort of students to join JSS in January 2023.

Staff shortages, unpreparedness of teachers and confusion in regards to the syllabus have further raised questions as to the suitability of the new CBC curriculum.