Explainer: How to make CBC better

By Peter Ochieng

The Competence Based Curriculum (CBC) was rolled out across the country in 2017, during retired President Uhuru Kenyatta’s time in office.

With a gradual implementation across different grade levels, CBC seeks to achieve full implementation in Grade 12 by 2028, completely phasing out the 8-4-4 system of education.

Under the new curriculum, learners have to go through 2 years of pre-primary, 6 years of primary school, 3 years of junior secondary, and 3 years of senior secondary school.

The new education system focuses on developing critical thinking, creativity, problem-solving skills, and practical applications. Some players in the academic sector feel CBC is not working.

Even as we speak, learners in some public schools are taking their lessons in halls minus lockers, after grade 9s took up their classrooms, given the fact that there was no form one transition this year.

However, the government insists CBC implementation is well on course. The question therefore begs, how can CBC be made better, going forward?

According to Professor Humprey Otieno Oborah, the proprietor, African Talent Campus based in Kisumu, CBC and 8-4-4 is one and the same thing. The solution, he says, lies in learners being subjected to a learning diagnosis so that they align with resources in learning institutions across the country.

“In fact, as far as I am concerned, CBC and 8-4-4 is one and the same thing. Just semantics,” he said while addressing the press on Monday.

“Even if we said we are not changing the name CBC, one thing must remain, and that is learning diagnosis. That we must do because the problem with the learning system is that learners are not aligned to the resources in the learning institutions. The solution is not building 20,000 CBC classrooms. What is a CBC classroom? Just a classroom.”

“We can say to them, keep the name CBC, but let’s do what is right. It is important that learners go through a learning system which respects their innate abilities, and therefore we can incorporate learning diagnosis,” he added.

Instead of the government ‘wasting money’ building 20,000 classrooms or ‘wasting money on irrelevant commissions of inquiry,’ Prof Oborah said money should instead be channeled towards learning diagnosis.

“You don’t walk to a hospital, and when you reach the hospital, you decide to take any medicine or any injection. That is madness. You have to do a diagnosis and confirm the sickness before doing any intervention. That is what we are saying,” he noted.

“You don’t make a parent sell his land and cattle, only for the child to complete a degree and come back to the village to ride a motorcycle. It doesn’t make sense.”

He spoke on the side-lines of a three-day Kenya universities music, dance and elocution workshop ongoing at the Africa Talent Campus. The event which ends on Wednesday, has drawn participants from over 15 universities in the country.