Kenya National Union of Teachers: Let new curriculum start in 2019

**Kenya National Union of Teachers (Knut) Secretary General Wilson Sossion. (Photo: Courtesy)**

The Kenya National Union of Teachers (Knut) has released its own road map that proposes the new curriculum be implemented in 2019.

Knut Secretary General Wilson Sossion said the success or failure of the system will at the end of the day be determined by teachers, who are yet to be trained and a majority of whom have no idea what the new curriculum entails.

"The discussion on curriculum-based learning has been a preserve of the Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development (KICD). Teachers will be hearing about it for the first time and getting to understand it," said the secretary general.

PILOT PROJECT

Sossion said initially, the curriculum development panels (including various specialists and teachers) were supposed to be constituted and trained in 2016 so that the pilot project may start from term one in 2017 and thereby allow time for the study.

"Right now, the pilot would start in May 2017, which raises a lot of concerns. Why shouldn't we start with the school year in January to take advantage of the entire year? Knowing we still have a very short and exam-focused third term, does it mean that we shall now just allow piloting for one term?" posed Sossion.

According to the new road map, the proposed 2-6-6-3 system should start earliest in October 2018 in all counties before being scaled to 2019.

This is contrary to the Government's plan to roll out the pilot phase of the programme in May this year with Education Cabinet Secretary Dr Fred Matiang'i insisting there is no rush in its implementation.

In a document submitted to the Ministry of Education by the union, Sossion said even the duration given for the curriculum development team is not enough.

He said the ministry should ensure the curriculum development team members are well trained.