Teachers in Mandera have started receiving training on the new competency based curriculum (CBC) that has kicked off countrywide this week.
This comes against the backdrop of Kenya National Union of Teachers (KNUT) chairman Wilson Sossion’s order last week where he asked teachers to boycott the training saying it was a violation of law.
Area Teachers Service Commission Director Yusuf Abdullahi termed the exercise as a success with over 80 per cent of teachers attending the training.
Abdullahi said teachers drawn from the 279 primary schools in the county would be equipped with skills to implement the new curriculum that would replace the 8-4-4 system.
He said training for 25 curriculum support and champion officers kicked off in January culminating to the current training expected to close on Friday this week.
“The train left the station in January. We will implement the new curriculum to the letter. There is no going back. All grades of teachers from 1 to 4 will receive this important training,” Abdullahi said.
He said by September, the curriculum will have been rolled to the Fourth Grade.
The Treasury has allocated Sh500 million for the training. The training is meant to enable teachers to manage the new curriculum which will replace 8-4-4 system.
More than 91,000 teachers countrywide were expected to be trained this month. Other trainings will be held in August and December.
The Director asked teachers to work as one and deliver as one. He said the new curriculum would ensure that the standards of education in public and private schools were on the same level.
The ministry rolled out the system nationally in January from Pre-unit and Grade 1-3 after a piloting phase in 33,000 private and public primary schools last year.
The study conducted between January and March further revealed that teachers were not sufficiently trained to teach the new curriculum.
By Dickson Githaiga
