Kenya National Union of Teachers (Knut) is ready for dialogue on Competency-Based Curriculum (CBC) as long as its concerns are urgently addressed.
The giant union yesterday said it will dialogue for the sake of the child but warned the new education system would fail if the Government does not address the shortage of 100,000 teachers and embrace full participation of teachers through their unions.
Addressing the Kenya Secondary Schools Heads Association (Kessha) annual conference at the Kenya School of Revenue Administration in Mombasa yesterday, Knut Vice-Chairman Collins Oyuu said a recent survey carried out by the union revealed that most schools lacked classrooms.
Separately, Kenyatta University Vice-Chancellor Paul Wainaina called for increased government funding of the CBC to make it successful.
Listen to criticism
Prof Wainaina said it was important to listen to criticism from Knut and other quarters on implementation of CBC.
Mr Oyuu, who represented Knut Secretary-General Wilson Sossion, who is attending an International Labour Organisation conference in Geneva, maintained that teachers who are the drivers of the curriculum have been left out in the process while training on CBC has not been effective.
He claimed the Government was coercing teachers to implement CBC instead of motivating and encouraging them to embrace reforms.
He said the roll out of CBC at PP1, PP2 and Grade 3 has been shambolic because teachers were not adequately prepared to implement the system.
“Knut is not opposed to CBC but our position is that the country is not equipped to implement the new curriculum,” said Oyuu.
