A lot has been said about the new Competency-based Curriculum (CBC) and its impact on Kenyan children, hence future generations.
As the discussions about CBC rage on, a few have stopped to think about the financial implication that this otherwise hurried curriculum has on parents.
Did you know that in this “god-sent” curriculum, a Grade 1 kid needs to report to school with at least 16 textbooks? Where on earth has that ever happened?
A visit to various bookshops around Nairobi showed that of the 16 textbooks for a Grade 1, the cheapest is retailing at 600 shillings. This is not to mention that the same kids are supposed to carry a mountain of at least 18 exercise books.
To make matters worse, these terrific textbooks cannot be passed down to other kids people apparently, kids have to fill in answers inside them. What on earth is this madness?
In Kenya right now, the easiest way for one to become a millionaire is to go into the business of printing CBC books, have some officials at KICD approve it, and laugh all the way to the bank.
The move to have kids write answers into the textbooks was a cunning one tailored towards making sure that each year, the books have people to buy them till kingdom comes.
Many stakeholders have said that CBC was hurried and Kenya was never ready for this program. It is a messed-up program that will hurt the future of our children. Even teachers are terrified of it, and we believe it is them who should teach and execute it.
What many Kenyans don’t know is that none of the kids belonging to our politicians will ever take this trash in the name of CBC. All of their kids are either abroad or taking up the international curriculum.
Look at the confusion surrounding Junior Secondary Schools and see if our kids have a future… Most parents are also going to start paying school fees at that level.
We need to have a discussion about CBC.
