The Kenya National Union of Teachers (KNUT) now wants the Competency Based Curriculum (CBC) to be fully implemented as it is, without any changes.
Speaking at the burial of a former KNUT official on Monday, November 14, KNUT Secretary General Collins Oyuu argued the government to instead heavily invest in the CBC saying that it is one of the best syllabus Kenya ought to adopt.
This is a change of tune from the unionist considering that KNUT has been one of the vocal critics of the CBC since its inception six years ago.
As late as November 4, a KNUT official from the Homa Bay branch called for the suspension of the curriculum to allow for public participation on its implementation.
“The CBC curriculum should not be scrapped but be suspended to enable the process that has begun of public participation to continue to its conclusive level,” Patrick Were, a KNUT representative from Homa Bay branch indicated.
According to Were, suspending CBC would enable the determination of whether the curriculum should continue or be scraped all together.
However, the Union’s Secretary General indicated that the new curriculum was at first rejected by the union because it was implemented at the wrong time.
“At inception the KNUT rejected the CBC because we wanted everything to be put in place to help in its implementation and adoption,” Oyuu told mourners at the funeral.
However, Oyuu argued that the Ruto-led government is in a better position to implement the curriculum if more funds are made available to facilitate its full implementation.
“What we are asking the government is that it fully funds the CBC and removes the burden from parents,” Oyuu indicated.
This comes just days after the working task force on CBC appointed by President William Ruto to collect public views and make recommendations on the curriculum concluded the collection of views from different stakeholders.
Oyuu revealed that all KNUT leaders are opposed to the scrapping of the CBC and had effectively submitted these views to the Prof Munavu-led taskforce.
