Tackle obstacles to ease the transition of CBC
The crisis in the education sector is deepening and could largely hamper the transition to the Competency-Based Curriculum, which is meant to equip learners with the knowledge and skills to make tangible contributions to national development. The key issues are the need to build infrastructure and facilities and the hiring of teachers.
Preparations for the promotion of the Junior Secondary School (JSS) learners from Grade 8 to 9, next January, have been rather sluggish. The Education ministry should fulfil its promise to build 16,000 classrooms. However, there are 23,000 public schools, meaning that some will miss out. But the government insists that they will be ready for Grade 9 occupation.
The JSS has teachers employed on contract or as interns. This could now be in jeopardy as the Employment and Labour Relations Court has found the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) guilty of violating the law by recruiting university graduates with practising licences as interns.
This is likely to throw the JSS plans into disarray and yet Sh3.39 billion has been allocated for the construction of classrooms in the primary schools hosting Grade 8. Schools also lack laboratories, making a mockery of the supposedly more practical CBC.
The junior schools are not just understaffed, but also most teachers on contract, who are forced to handle subjects they were not trained in. They handled one JSS class last year, have two this year and they will be three next year. Recruiting 20,000 more teachers will not solve the understaffing problem. Teaching the learners theory defeats the very objective of the CBC. Tutors also have large class sizes and cannot meet the individual needs of each learner, leading to insufficient support and guidance. Some classes have up to 90 learners, undermining the quality of education.
A large number of the 56,000 teachers are working on contract. As the court has outlawed the employment of intern teachers, the TSC should convert their contracts into permanent and pensionable terms. Indeed, the teachers' unions have lauded the ruling as a significant victory for the interns.
These challenges should be solved to ease the CBC transition.
