Former Knut secretary general, Wilson Sossion, is hopeful for a comeback through appointment in Dr William Ruto’s government.
Sossion’s career was in deathbed after he was forced by circumstances to resign as Knut secretary general then after failing to secure a ticket for Senate in UDA primaries.
UDA party candidate Hillary Sigei who won the primaries, has clinched the Bomet Senate seat with 237,192 votes. Enock Kemei of CCM scored 57,745 while Weldon Korir got 41,106 votes.
Sossion had hinted that he will not run for any elective position but support William Ruto’s bottom up economic model.
Most teachers are of the opinion that Wilson Sossion be appointed Education CS to deal with many issues bedeviling the docket.
Sossion has in many occasions opposed the new curriculum calling it a ‘fraudulent curriculum’.
He said that the rollout of the Competency-Based Curriculum (CBC) has been to the disadvantage of public schools.
According to him replacing the 8-4-4 curriculum with the new education system was rushed and state-owned schools are struggling to keep up.
This, he says, has opened an opportunity for investors eyeing the education sector to reap big through private schools since the rollout began in 2017.
“CBC, the way it was introduced in this country, was to destroy the existence of public schools because they will never implement it. We did not prepare and it was just imposed,” Mr. Sossion said.
“The public schools will die and it will open a window for privatisation. Whoever imposed it on this country was very deliberate to kill public schools.”
Though Kenya Kwanza brigades led by Musalia Mudavadi and Moses Wetangula had initially said their government will scrap CBC, Ruto clarified this during his manifest launch.
Ruto said his government will not scrap CBC but rather strengthen it by encouraging further engagements with parents, teachers and other stakeholders.
Dr Ruto promised to review the Competency-Based Curriculum to address current challenges identified by teachers and parents.
He said a Kenya Kwanza government would rely on the curriculum review by Unesco to seal gaps that have been pointed out.
“We commit to continue our robust engagement with the public to facilitate the assessment of the current curriculum and education structure towards finding a sustainable solution that will capture the essence of a knowledge-based system,” Dr Ruto said.
Mr Sossion was also vehemently opposed to Teachers Service Commission (TSC) training programme for teachers known as Teacher Professional Development (TPD).
Sossion said teachers were already being trained through CBC training workshops conducted by TSC and that even if such training is necessary it must be paid for by the state instead of subjecting teachers to financial torture.
During his manifesto launch at the Moi Sports Centre Kasarani, Nairobi, Ruto said his government will pay for the controversial teacher training programme popularly known as TPD.
However for any appointment to be made is after the President elect, Dr Ruto, is officially sworn as President of the land according to the constitution.
Ruto was declared the President elect by IEBC Chairman, Wafula Chebukati, at the Bomas in Nairobi.
Announcing the election results, Chebukati said Ruto won 7,176,141 votes translating to 50.49% of the total vote, while his main opponent, Raila Odinga had 48.85% translating to 6,942,930 votes.
Odinga has however rejected the results terming them null and void and plans to challenge them at the Supreme Court.