Teachers say there are no books in schools as KNUT opposes new curriculum

The Kenya National Union of Teachers (Knut) has vowed that it will not support the new curriculum when piloting of the second phase II ends in November.

Secretary General Wilson Sossion said the union would not be part of the 2-6-3-3-3 curriculum, saying its piloting stage had failed.

Addressing the Press at Knut offices in Nairobi yesterday, Sossion accused the Government of disregarding important pillars that would have made the piloting in all the 33,000 schools across the country for Grade 1 and 2 a success.

“The curriculum implementation failed in January because it was aligned to the political calendar. We call upon the new CS Ambassador Amina Mohammed to cure education from politicisation if any project has to succeed,” said Sossion.

More teachers

He said without more teachers and learning materials, the new curriculum would fail.

“The infrastructure and human capital requirements of the new curriculum are mammoth. As we speak, schools have not even received books that are necessary for teaching the new curriculum,” said Sossion.

But the Kenya Publishers Association (KPA) said its members were working hard to supply the books to schools.

Sossion maintained the piloting phase of the system had failed because it did not involve all stakeholders.

He said teachers would not be intimidated into implementing a curriculum whose concept they had not been given enough time to synthesise through in-depth training.

Kenya Primary School Heads Association (Kepsha) waded into the debate, calling on the Ministry of Education to put its house in order for smooth piloting and learning to take place.

“We should not allow the new system to be failed by the same institutions that failed 8-4-4. The teachers are in school but there are no learning materials,” said Kepsha chairman, Shem Ndolo.

Work together

But the Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development (KICD) called for patience.

“This is an important national undertaking, we must work together to make it a success,” said KICD deputy director in charge of curriculum research, Jacqueline Onyango.