Education Cabinet Secretary Prof George Magoha yesterday affirmed that Competency Based Curriculum (CBC) is here to stay despite growing criticism from a cross section of Kenyans

The Minister said that no amount of “politicisation of malicious critique” will stop the Government from implementing the policy, describing it as the most transformative system children require.

“All these nonsense you are hearing now ignore them; the best thing happening now is CBC. Let us not allow the busybody politicians to divert it.

We are not going to take this lying down, this onslaught that is based on toxic politics because we are not politicians and we love our children,” said the CS, who spoke at Kakamega High School.

“If you are going to judge Caesar, judge Caesar fairly…we are professional warriors and CBC is going to be one of the most transformative things and when children come back to you, they make you look like you did not go to school,” he added.

Growing complaints

His remarks come against the backdrop of growing complaints from parents and other stakeholders ranging from poor implementation, time consuming owing to the ‘excess’ assignments to being expensive.

“You will not see me on TV arguing, you will see me in schools where the work is going on.

I do not have to answer you on TV, for what? And if we find there are bottlenecks, we will deal with them,” he decalred.

Magoha spoke even as the outgoing Law Society of Kenya (LSK) President Nelson Havi vowed to move to court to challenge the policy.

He said on his Twitter account that the petition has been driven by cries from parents, guardians and teachers.

“I have heard your cries parents, guardians and teachers. The petition challenging CBC will be filed in Court next week.

The education system in Kenya should not be an expensive, inefficient and ineffective experiment with our children and their future as is our leadership,” Havi tweeted.

But Magoha maintained a hardline stance saying the Government will keep implementing CBC undeterred for the good of all children.

“You can be sure nothing is going to stop us, there will be good transition and if God gives me grand-children they must go through CBC, not a system where you are trained to pass exams and when you come out you cannot speak English,” said the CS

The CS admitted to infrastructure challenge but said that the Government is working behind the scenes to ensure the situation is addressed.

“It is also true that there is an infrastructure challenge and we are dealing with it. Why do you think we are not working behind the curtain to ensure that the transition is going to be smooth,?” posed the CS.

“Some of those people who shout, just look at their credentials properly and ask where to draw the line.

Even some of the political commentators, look at them and tell me whether you should be listening to them or the Government.

The jury is out there;  the taste of the pudding is in the eating. From next week I will be going to classrooms again and you can be sure nothing is going to stop us,” he added.

He said cheating will not be possible in CBC saying marks for Grade 5 learners have been uploaded on the Kenya National Examination Council (Knec) portal and show a normal curve.

With regards to books, the CS dismissed claims that they are too expensive.

“Which books are the children buying yet they have been bought? You find that for Grade 5, they were bought an year ahead of time.

Right now the process for Government using billions of shillings to buy grade 6 books is ongoing and by the time the children get to Grade 6, the books should be there,” he said.

 “For instance, if you are from Luhyaland, the most important utensil is the cooking stick they use for cooking ugali, is there any home where it does not exist?

So let us be fair to the Government as we criticise because education is not politics,” he said.

He said the Ministry has completed registering candidates for Form Four exam next year, which shows a 10.9 per cent increase, attributed to Government mopping up students and taking them to school.

Separately, the Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development (KICD) said relevant players within the institute are reviewing responses that touch on its mandate and taking appropriate interventions including clarifying what has not accurately come out.