Curriculum change in Kenya not well thought out

Former President Daniel Moi has defended the 8-4-4 system of education that he conceived against a backdrop of skepticism and resistance.

Similarly, President Uhuru Kenyatta is determined to implement the 2-6-3-3 system against all odds and without the kind of serious engagement that should inform such a monumental national and generational undertaking.

This is reckless, considering that the Ministry of Education gave 2018 as the earliest time the country could have implemented changes in the sector. And such changes did not necessarily mean a change to the 8-4-4 structure.

Indeed, nothing illustrates the thoughtlessness of this project more than this failure to distinguish structure from curriculum.

And so the country is going to move to the new system in a hurry and in a state of confusion. It is in this sort of environment that Kenya wants to spend billions of shillings, most of which will go to buccaneers.

Instead of this hurried confusion, we should use common sense and identify the real issues. Common sense leads us to identify access and quality as the two clear issues to be addressed.

On access, we should identify things which make education unnecessarily too costly and thus out of reach for the majority. In this category the school principal must be identified as the first culprit.

The school principal is a god unto himself and must be tamed if education is to be affordable. Indeed, we might have to come up with a collegial management style where all the teachers in a school take part in the management of the school with the principal serving a maximum of one year on a rotational basis.

Secondly, time has come for us to consider whether we need the boarding school, especially given that the missionaries introduced it to ‘save’ school boys and girls from what was viewed as harm and contamination from ‘repugnant’ African practices and ways of life.

We should consider moving towards community schools which will not only reduce the cost of schooling, but which will also reduce elitism and enhance equality in education as communities will pull together, and with support from the government, put up high quality community schools thus obviating the need for high cost schools and academies.

The school uniform adds to cost and must be phased out as we seek to nurture self-disciplined children who do not need to be in uniform to be tamed.

Turning to quality, it is easy to see how well developed community schools will help address the problem of overcrowding which impacts negatively on quality learning.

Quality also has to do with adequate teachers in a proper teacher-student ratio. The government should also hire some teachers instead of wasting money on introducing a new education system.

The bottom-line is that you need adequate educational infrastructure and well-trained teachers to achieve quality education.

It is therefore inconceivable that the government plans to spend colossal sums of money on ill-conceived changes while the teachers who are to implement these changes wallow in poverty and misery.

Finally, the government should allow this process to run its course and benefit from a national discussion and debate so that when we finally introduce changes, they will be meaningful changes.

Obviously, such changes will only make sense if they come after we have dealt with simple, common sense problems like infrastructure, adequate teachers, and a well-trained and motivated teaching staff.