Education Cabinet Secretary Prof. George Magoha on Tuesday said ongoing university reforms are critical in revitalizing universities to serve the education system and the society as a whole.
Prof. Magoha dismissed any likelihood of merger of public universities as part of higher education reforms, terming it a creation of the media but was however categorical that the ministry will intensify the crackdown on ‘bogus’ courses offered by public universities without approval from the Commission for University Education.
The Cabinet Secretary urged universities to embark on readying themselves for the full implementation of the Competency Based Curriculum at their level as well as support its implementation at the lower levels of the education system.
He said the current changes in the education sector are ‘ideas whose time has come’ and added the public needed to be educated to wholesomely accept the current Competency Based Curriculum as the best module to update learning in institutions and the entire country.
Prof. Magoha acknowledged that, “times have really changed and as a government, doing things the same way will only alienate Kenya from the rest of the world, which has since moved on.”
Speaking at Kenyatta University Conference Centre during a pre-conference to the 3rd National Conference on Curriculum Reforms, Magoha underscored the fact that a curriculum rolled out over a decade ago cannot be used presently and warned that Kenya cannot continue doing things the same way because the trend will always produce the same undesirable results.
Prof. Magoha affirmed his commitment to the full implementation of the Competency Based Curriculum, and noted that at the time of his appointment, the government had rolled out CBC. He added regardless of the little loopholes, he personally couldn’t halt the implementation.
“I agree there are fundamental areas that need more input. That does not mean I stop the train. We must engage more but continue with its implementation,” said the CS regarding the CBC, which is replacing the 8-4-4 system.
Magoha called on his counterparts at the universities to join hands with the government in updating the masses on the importance of fully rolling out the CBC and further urged them to train more teachers who will properly handle the new curriculum.
“Politics is not logical. Let us not concentrate on the noise of those who do not understand what CBC entails. Let us counter the noise with a voice of reason because the train has left the station and we cannot bring it back,” said Magoha.
The CS further called on the Kenya National Examinations Council (KNEC) to help clarify to the public that they will only carry out assessment on Grade 3 pupils and that it will not be a national examination as reported in the local media.
By Gworo Alice
