National Parents Association (NPA) wants to be enjoined in a case seeking to suspend implementation of Competency Based Curriculum (CBC).

NPA chairperson Nicholas Maiyo yesterday said the association has been fully engaged in decisions surrounding implementation of CBC and described it as the best system for children in the country.

He questioned the fate of more than seven million children currently in Pre-Primary 1 to Grade 5, should the court direct the government to revert back to the 8-4-4 system.

“We were engaged as parents when the curriculum was being developed by Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development  (KICD) and also when the parental empowerment and engagement manual was developed, our interest is our children and we want the best for them,” said Maiyo.

Speaking after a parents’ stakeholder meeting with KICD on CBC in Nairobi, he said more than 10 million parents are in support of the curriculum.

 “What we are saying is that Kenyans have a right to sue the Government on the issue of CBC and as parents, we will let the judicial process proceed,” said Maiyo after the meeting.

State our stand

The new education system was launched by the government in 2017. Law Society of Kenya President Nelson Havi has filed a case in court to stop its implementation arguing that  it infringes on the rights of the students across the country. 

Maiyo said NPA is not surprised when some decisions of Government are drawn to the court’s attention once in a while since it is a democratic country.

However, he said, the association’s concern should only be over judicial proceedings that seek to bury children’s career dreams and hinder national progress, stating that they are optimistic that whoever filed the suit bears the interests of children at heart, is a parent with a child or children in public schools and is NPA’s member.

Maiyo said the person should have engaged the association, which in turn would have responded to them and is sincere to the cause at hand.

“We are the representatives of more than  10 million parents who have taken their children to public school and we have not taken the Government to court so we will join the case to state exactly our stand as parents with children in public schools,” he added.

He said that NPA is guided by a number of principles namely dedicated pursuit of the interest of the child, building and protecting an education system that works, school-centered development, apolitical service as well as cooperation and collaboration with sector players.

Maiyo added that all parents want their children to have the best education and thus can go to great lengths and make enormous sacrifices to ensure they achieve this objective.

“We all know what good education is: good education is when learning increases a child’s creativity and helps them enjoy studying.

At the end of it, learners should be knowledgeable, wise and productive citizens of the world,” he said.