CBC Kids To Remain in Primary School After Joining Secondary- Magoha

On Monday, June 20^th, Education Cabinet Secretary George Magoha said that the first class of the Competency-Based Curriculum (CBC) will continue in primary schools even after completing the national exam that will qualify them for a junior secondary school in 2022.

CS George Magoha spoke to the media at the Moi Educational Centre; he allayed fears raised by parents over the preparedness of private schools to host the first lot of Grade Six graduates as boarders in junior secondary schools.

Education CS George Magoha claimed that parents did not need to move their children to different institutions and that the competition should be saved when trying to enrol in Grace 10 senior high schools.

“It would be essential for the parents who already have their children in private schools to retain them in junior secondary facilities established within those schools so that the cut-throat competition that comes after standard eight be postponed to Year 10,” he stated.

“It is just one additional year so that they will even be a little bit older than usual when they start competing now for the senior school,” Magoha added.

Education CS also dismissed the notion that the CBC meant that students joined high schools at a young age and that the teachers were not trained well to handle the students. He noted that some secondary schools had admitted students as young as 12 in the 8-4-4 system.

“Who said that our teachers are not well-trained, even in this school, we have had 12-year-olds before and even now. I am a doctor, and I can tell you that the difference between a 12 and 14-year-old is not that serious; they even behave better,” he declared.

Prof George Magoha noted that constructing CBC classrooms in public schools was in progress, with 1,296 out of the 5,000 being ready. He added that he would ensure that all classrooms would be completed before the government handed them over to the primary schools.

Magoha further gave his two cents on the current menace of politicians seeking elective positions presenting invalid degree certificates to the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) for clearance.

He cautioned politicians that no court would grant them degrees and that colleges have the authority to check degrees. The procedure of certifying academic credentials, according to the CS, should be simple but is only complicated by politics.

“A judge cannot give you a degree. As a Vice-Chancellor, I cross-checked many degrees, and it would only take a phone call; if you put politics aside, then it is a straightforward process,” he noted

CS added that the saga was sending the wrong message to children – with the requirement forcing even those seeking politics to do anything to obtain the academic certificate