Magoha bullish on CBC, warns teachers against Sossion’s boycott calls

Education CS George Magoha insists that the roll-out of the Competence Based Curriculum (CBC) training will continue.

On Tuesday, Prof. Magoha said the CBC will not only identify the problems plaguing the education sector but also train job creators.

“We shall not tolerate cases where staff of the Ministry fail to coordinate their activities jointly with the TSC. I shall take stern action against my staff who will be reported as having failed to cooperate with those of the TSC in discharging education duties to learners…..I will personally be part of the teams that will travel to various counties to monitor this exercise to ensure it goes as planned,” he said.

CS Magoha said the ministry will roll out the CBC in Grade 4 next year and by September 2019,  there will be an assertive plan for the roll out.

“It is clear that the CBC will transform the country by identifying the potential that children have and nurturing this through a curriculum that is designed to emphasise application of knowledge rather than its mere acquisition,” the Education CS added.

Meanwhile, a section of teachers on Tuesday ignored the directive to boycott the CBC trainings and appeared for a session led by Nyanza Regional Director of Education Richard Chepkawai.

But in Kakamega, the training session was disrupted after officials from the Kenya National Teachers Union (KNUT) stormed the institution.

KNUT secretary Kakamega branch Tom Ingolo vowed that they would not allow the training to take place until their concerns are addressed.

On her part, TSC boss Nancy Macharia on Tuesday maintained that the training will sharpen the skills of teachers, and already a huge turnout has been witnessed in over 1000 zones.

This is even as Kenya National Union of Teachers (KNUT) called for a boycott of the training.

KNUT Secretary General Wilson Sossion insists that the government has not done sufficient sensitisation among the key education stakeholders.

On Wednesday last week, Sossion termed the training as “a violation of the law”.

Some of the issues cited by the union against the new curriculum include: rushed implementation, lack of support in monitoring books, inadequate infrastructure due to extremely high enrolment and failure to involve the participation of private schools in the training.

The KNUT boss described the new curriculum as a foreign investment that seeks to drown the Kenyan learners in the long run.

The Ministry said that it will ensure that we follow up the training with a solid monitoring and evaluation process in schools in order to establish areas where implementers need further support.

Treasury has already disbursed Ksh.500million to facilitate the training in April this year.