Furore about the competency based curriculum, with the divisive factor being, its shortcomings and expected outcomes. From the hue and cry it seems that parents with children in private schools are bearing the brunt of the systems shortcomings. Complaints abound about how demanding and expensive the curriculum is, particularly, on parent’s time and financial resources.

And it’s not just parents who are unhappy; it appears teachers are also unhappy. The immediate former Secretary General of KNUT, Hon. Wilson Sossion’s was recently quoted saying that CBC is a fraudulent system that threatens to reverse the education gains the country has made. Professor Lukoye Atwoli, on the other hand had this to say, “CBC will create a bigger gulf between the have and have not’s.”

At the height of this debate the President of the Law Society of Kenya, Mr. Nelson Havi decided to move to court to save parents from what he termed as, ‘the CBC burden’. The government on the other hand has stood its ground, with the education CS saying that CBC is going nowhere, it is here to stay. .

It is almost impossible not to sympathize with ‘CBC parents’, who are bearing most of the financial burden, or with the teachers, who are ill prepared for the momentous challenge of delivering this new curriculum, or with academicians, like Prof. Lukoye who have had an opportunity to interrogate this subject in detail. To be very honest each and all, have a point

But if we were to look at it from a different perspective, in line very much with Prof. Lukoye’s thinking. One realizes that this simmering crisis has indeed given us the perfect opportunity to review CBC. We have with us the ideal occasion, timely in every respect, to review and interrogate the progress this system has made since its inception in 2017.

And as we take stock, we must, in my opinion first and foremost acknowledge, that just by its design and intention, CBC has been a marked departure from 8-4-4. For in adopting a student centered learning regime, we have dared to remove the focus from the teacher and turned the spot light to the student. This for me has been CBC’s biggest success. Such a milestone would never have been achieved directly under 8-4-4 regime, or by tweaking 8-4-4, which, is the approach apparently favored by the detractors of CBC.

It is indeed a massive milestone, because, by shifting the focus to the student and by crafting a learning regime that seeks to inculcate the building up of skills and capabilities. We as a nation are addressing what has been in short supply in this country – competency. High sounding as this may sound, competency; skilled, efficient and capable people able to perform tasks without supervision is what every employer is looking for. But today, employers are struggling to find workers who understand the basics. So the question I think we ought to be asking ourselves at this juncture, as we go about reviewing CBC’s report card, is – is CBC living up to its billing? What direction is CBC taking? Will it address competency issues in the fullness of time? But perhaps it’s too early to tell. Then, a better question to ask at this moment is, what do we want from our children or rather what kind of future do we want for our children to create?

In my opinion these are important questions and how we choose to answer them, will shed light on the best way forward for our education system. Particularly, in light of the fluid and constant change that is taking place all around us. And in cognizance very much with our global and continental aspirational goals; i.e. SDG No. 4 - on equitable, inclusive and lifelong learning approaches, and AU agenda 2063 – on Africa’s master plan to transform itself into a global powerhouse.

In a sense, we are at crossroad. Every African country is at a crossroad. Irrespective of our peculiar shortcomings as a people, as a country or as a continent the script should be clear by now. We must find and make our own way to the future. In this regard our education systems will and must play an important, if not the most important role. For instance education must seek not only to be the channel that will educate our people. But it must also seek to be a channel for aspiration. The channel that will affirm and commit to assisting every student and child discover, develop and unleash their inherent skills and potentialities.

Looking beyond CBC’s report card and ahead, one realizes the biggest challenge we shall face in the future is what to do with our graduates and school leavers. Year on year, the number of job seekers (graduates and school leavers) versus the number of jobs created is increasing. The government can only do so much. Indeed, other than creating a favorable business environment and encouraging an entrepreneurial culture, government will struggle to create jobs. Actually it is foolhardy to believe that government can create jobs.  Government can only create jobs where it controls the factors of production – case in point China. But I am not sure this is what we would want from our government.

And here is where we can see the importance of education. A curriculum that steers young people to explore, experiment and create things, versus, one that trains them to retain information, to venerate precedent and to seek for jobs, will produce different outputs. In a country with an abundance of jobs the latter system may be the best suited for the occasion. However, where there is a dearth of jobs, a different kind of training is required. Preferably, one that espouses experimentation and departure from the tried and tested and allows students to explore new was of creating things. Such a curriculum will create innovators and entrepreneurs.
 
We live in the age trends; fashion, technology, art, music are in constant change - a particular thing is in vogue today, tomorrow there is something better. As it is, this state of affairs is daunting to us as grown-ups and we are struggling to keep up. What then of our children, who we expect to be not only consumers but to be creators as well of some of the innovations that are touted for the future.

So it is break time for CBC. Hopefully, it shall not be a situation of make or break. And as this matter continues to be arbitrated in the law courts, let us continue to discuss in the court of public opinion. But let us in discussing CBC, play the long game. Let us attempt to look at CBC in the fullness of time. Indeed, I know it is not perfect and perhaps the debate should focus more on how to improve it. For instance how can we retrain teachers who were trained to deliver 8-4-4 to deliver CBC better, or how can assignments be planned so that children with their parents in tow are not inundated with homework, or how can schools creatively manage the cost of additional resources, through improvisation, so that it is less expensive to the parent. This I think would be a more productive and worthwhile discussion. Let’s not throw the baby out with the birth water, doing that would be disingenuous. So I say let’s give CBC a chance. We owe it to our children. Let them have a chance to live their lives according to their terms, they may not necessarily be successful but at least, they will live productive lives.