Parents in Mombasa County have decried the high cost of learning brought about by the new Competence Based Curriculum (CBC).
The parents said that CBC is too expensive for them given the fact that some parents lost their jobs due to the Covid-19 pandemic and the increasingly high cost of living.
Speaking during a forum by the Presidential Working Party on Education Reforms at Coast Girls secondary school in Mombasa, Robert Opemi who is the chairman of Mombasa County Parents’ Association said that some children are on the verge of dropping out of school as their parents cannot afford to buy the learning materials needed by teachers.
“As parents, we appreciate this move by the President where he has provided a forum for us to air our views about this curriculum. CBC started too fast with parents not being fully involved. Parents are complaining as they have been burdened by CBC yet we were told education in the country is free,” said Opemi.
He added most parents cannot afford to buy learning materials for their children under the CBC system and urged the government to take over that responsibility and provide all the relevant materials needed in implementing the curriculum.
“We are wondering if we should buy food or provide for CBC items that are quite expensive. We want this committee to listen to our views without bias so that we resolve the challenges facing CBC amicably,” noted Opemi.
Professor Leila Abubakar who is the chair of the task force in the Coast Region said that they have noted various challenges in the schools they visited and they would compile a report of the findings.
Abubakar noted that in Early Childhood Development Education (ECDE) many have understood the curriculum but the challenge is in Grades 1 to 6 as the teachers haven’t grasped the concept fully.
She added that there is inadequate training for teachers teaching the curriculum coupled with inadequate infrastructure.
“We have seen and assessed the situation but we are yet to make an overall report. This forum is important as parents have gotten a chance to air the challenges they go through in regard to the implementation of CBC,” said Abubakar.
Abubakar said that so far they have visited six sub-counties including the schools with children with disabilities. “We have visited nursery, primary, secondary schools, and tertiary and vocational institutions in Changamwe, Jomvu, Kisauni, Nyali, Mvita and Likoni,” she said.
According to Abubakar, they are yet to visit Kilifi then Lamu, and finally Tana-River to gather public views.
The CBC curriculum which was launched in 2017 to replace the 8-4-4 system of education is designed to emphasize the significance of developing skills and knowledge and applying those skills to real-life situations.