By Andanje Wakhungu
Most public schools within Malava Sub County in Kakamega face huge challenges in the implementation of the competence-based curriculum (CBC). In a spot check conducted by The Weekly Vision, we discovered that many learning institutions have no facilities to conduct CBC fully, against a requirement by the Basic Education Act that requires that the syllabus be followed and implemented fully.
Schools have not invested in the construction of computers, science, laboratories, engineering workshops, and swimming pools to carry out practical lessons, and this has been pointed out as one of the major hurdles that will hamper full syllabus coverage.
The management of St. Teresa’s Isanjiro primary school, which emerged at the top of the Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (2023), is calling on all education stakeholders to invest in the construction of such amenities and employ instructors within the sub-county to assist schools in executing the syllabus.
The chairman of the examination council at the school, Mr Edwin Tindi, said they were deliberating on how best the school will be able to conduct the CBC syllabus so that their pupils can excel. “As a school, we are happy that our results of 217 candidates, as earlier stated, were correct, with 28 candidates scoring above 400 marks, with the majority attaining 300 marks and above, and we are happy that we will be sending over 150 candidates to national schools across the country. Our worry is now with the implementation of the new syllabus for pupil and parent satisfaction.”
The school head teacher, Sister Caroline Wanjala, also expressed her concerns over the same, pointing out that it will take time for the government to equip schools with such facilities.
We are ready as a school to commence with the new syllabus, but as you can see, there are several hiccups along the way that need to be addressed urgently. “Our school takes the education of the children very seriously, and this has been attested to in our ever-best mean posting of 357.96, and we are determined to be the best in the coming years.
