Mombasa teachers defy Sossion’s order on CBC

BY PETER KOMBE

The Kenya National Union of Teachers has been told to support the ongoing nationwide Competency Based Curriculum training saying it would help them in handle the new syllabus in the prescribed classes.

Speaking on the sidelines of the four-day training at Serani Primary School on Tuesday (April 23, 2019), a teacher Francisca Mzungu said there is need for Kenyans to embrace the new curriculum that promises to take into consideration their children’s talents.

However, according to her there is need for teachers be fully equipped on the curriculum before being rolled out to schools.

“The curriculum being both technical and practical in terms of talents requires the teaching staff to be conversant with its approach to enable them impart adequately to their learners’ potentialities,” she added.

ATTEND TRAINING

Talking to the Coast Media Group online edition, Ms Kazungu urged her colleagues to embrace the training saying it would enable them handle emerging challenges and gaps of the old system.

“I want to tell Wilson Sossion (Knut secretary general) that he should rally behind us teachers instead of opposing just for sake of it. He should himself come to the ground and listen to our grievances before making sweeping statements on CBC,” she said.

Francisca is optimistic that the existing challenges will be sorted out with the passage of time.

Another teacher participating in the training, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told off their SG saying the training is key for them to understand and execute the new education system.

The teacher urged all Kenyan teachers to attend the four day training event in their areas in order to understand the basics of the CBC.

“This marks the beginning of this training mark a new dawn because apart from equipping us on the new curriculum it will also enable us handle it with our classes professionally,” the teacher said.

Although admitting that CBC is engulfed with dozens of challenges, the teacher urged those opposed to the training to attend first then give their views of where to improve for the sake of Kenyan children.

In tutor’s view, the government driven new curriculum has its own difficulties compared to the previous 8.4.4 system.

“The challenge is that teachers are so much used to the old system of 8-4-4 that they cannot see through this new system’s good side,” the teacher said.

CBC ILLEGAL

However, the Kilindini Knut secretary Dan Aloo rubbished the training insisting that it is not anchored on any legal basis.

He insisted that CBC is even not part of the big four agenda adding that lawmakers are not aware of the existence of the curriculum.

“The curriculum is not anchored on any law,” he said and challenged the media to ask any MP if they knew anything about it.

According to him the CBC should have been rolled out in the teacher training colleges so that teacher-trainees could get an in-depth of it before its implementation.

Before the start of the four-day training, the Knut secretary general Wilson Sossion had told teachers to boycott the training.

But speaking during its launching on Tuesday, the education cabinet secretary Prof George Magoha said the rollout of the CBC will go on as planned with the Teachers Service Commission chief executive Nancy Macharia saying the government had funded the training to the tune of Sh500 million.