Muthama: Major curricula review needed in Kenya

It is said that the best inheritance a parent can bequeath a child nowadays is education.

In the quest for academic excellence for children, parents in collaboration with teachers have over the years employed unethical methods to achieve this goal. The push for academic excellence has forced teachers to compromise pedagogical methods.

One of the most unacceptable means is the “drilling” of students to regurgitate what they have learned to excel in exams. The  never-ending assignments and homework speak volumes about the poor health of our educational standards and system.

Parents’ blind faith in teachers’ abilities to make their children pass exams have worsened the situation.

Physical education and school holidays have been neglected and replaced with compulsory tuition at the expense of “learning”.

In most academies, exam-orientation is the order of the day; no wonder students suffer sleep deprivation and stress.

What those parents and teachers forget is that the mind of a child is not a vessel to be filled with knowledge. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.

Therefore, there is need for a multi-disciplinary approach to curriculum review that caters for a wide spectrum of interests and needs.

If not, the much-hyped Vision 2030 will remain a mirage.

The buck now stops with the Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development.