By Nyawira Githae
In1985, the Kenyan 8-4-4 syllabus replaced the 7-4-2-3 syllabus with the intention of equipping students with practical, real life skills making them self-sufficient in agriculture, industry and commerce. This syllabus was supposed to create more opportunities for both employment and self-employment through the development of vocational and technical skills.
It sounded great on paper but in reality there were several obstacles that became apparent after it was launched which included the cost of building facilities such as workshops to support the curriculum.
Over the years, several education commissions and task forces were authorized to pinpoint and solve these issues but the implementation of their solutions ended up having a negative impact. For example, the workload increased when they tried to reduce the number of subjects by combining some of them such as GHC (Geography, History and Civics).
The curriculum also became more exam oriented with a ranking system which resulted in corruption where parents went as far as bribing teachers so that their children could get admitted to high ranking schools. The Kenya National Education Commission (KNEC) was also compromised by officials who accepted bribes to ensure that certain schools ranked high.
There were numerous cases where students in class 7 who were academically weaker were held back so they didn’t sit for the Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) exam in class 8 and lower the ranking of the school. This had occurred in the previous curriculum where the weaker students would be held back in class 6 so that they didn’t proceed to class 7 to sit the Certificate of Primary Education (CPE) exam. This led to a delay in their learning and students dropping out.
Despite the flaws of the 8-4-4 system, Kenya has one of the highest literacy levels in Africa and Kenyan students are able to competitively access university scholarships outside the country. Kenya also has a rapidly growing tech scene with tech giants such as Microsoft, Visa and Google each having a base for their operations.
CBC – Competency Based Curriculum
In 2017, the Kenyan government introduced the CBC which was intended to be a solution to the challenges of the 8-4-4 syllabus. This syllabus is meant to be more student centered rather than teacher centered where teachers are facilitators instead of dictators.
Students move at their own pace and not as a class. It considers each individual and guides them in the areas that they are interested and skilled in. The CBC aims to integrate digital literacy across all parts of the country which includes the use of tablets provided by the government.
Once again, the new school system was promising but pretty soon, the same issues that emerged at the inception of the 8-4-4 curriculum are rearing their head again. Not enough teachers have been trained and there aren’t enough resources such as classrooms and books so the financial burden is being placed on the parents to provide those resources.
It has also been a huge burden on the teachers who are required to mark different types of assessments for each student with a poor student-teacher ratio.
The implementation was affected by covid when schools were shut down. When in-person learning resumed, it was chaotic and students have endured 1 week holidays in-between school terms so that they can catch up with the year they had lost.
International Schools in Kenya
Kenya hosts several international schools teaching foreign curriculums with the most popular being the British Curriculum (GCSE/IGCSE). Previously, these schools were populated by the children of expats along with the children of middle class parents and wealthy Kenyan parents who preferred international schools.
During the last few years, there has been a rise of Kenyan parents enrolling their children in international schools to avoid the implementation challenges the CBC is facing.
Some of the advantages of these foreign curricula is children are allowed to voice their curiosity and the teachers are not seen as dictators who can’t be questioned. This builds confidence and students don’t grow up fearing authority.
Another advantage is these foreign systems nurture non-academic/ extra-curricular skills like swimming, music, and the international syllabuses tend to have a better foothold on teaching digital/IT courses in a way that is in tandem with the current digital scene.
Be that as it may, as a parent, you still need to ask yourself whether these international syllabi are all-encompassing? Do they need to be supplemented considering that they were not designed for our Kenyan children and Kenyan culture? Are they molding our children to be Kenyan citizens with a Kenyan identity or are they molding adults who feel disconnected locally?
Is there a way for your child to benefit from these foreign syllabi while still having a strong sense of patriotism and Kenyan identity and what would that require you to do?
