Reviewing the curriculum is essential to raising the caliber and applicability of education.
Curriculum review is defined as an evaluation of academic programs critically with the goal of maximizing learning experiences. The academic staff members who teach a specific area of specialization should lead curriculum reviews.
As early as 1724, our nation used the Swahili text known as “Utendi wa Tambuka” (Book of Heraclius) to create a variety of curricula.In 1846, the CMS missionaries built the first schools in Rabai after interacting with the coastal population.
Primary education followed the colonial system until independence in 1963, when the 7-4-2-3 curriculum was introduced. This 20-year curriculum comprised seven years of primary education, four years of lower secondary education, two years of upper secondary education, and three years of university study.
Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda are the three East African nations that have adopted the system. Kenya, however, established its own system eight years later in 1985 following the dissolution of the East Africa Community in 1977.
The 7-4-2-3 system, according to academics, lacked the capacity and flexibility to adapt to the changing needs of individual Kenyans and the demands of the labor market in line with emerging technologies.
The 1976 Gachathi study exposed a number of flaws in the curriculum, the worst of which was unemployment.
The National Assembly then demanded the creation of a more comprehensive system that would address the curriculum’s technical and vocational components. The World Bank also desired curriculum modifications.
Following the publication of the Mackay report in 1982, the 8-4-4 system was implemented, with the first six years focusing on literacy and numeracy abilities and the final two years on basic education and practical skills. Its primary goal was to deal with the increase in unemployment.
Scholars assert that the 8-4-4 system, which is thought to have been costly for both parents and students, is still the most radical and thoughtless alteration to Kenya’s educational landscape since the country’s independence.
It has wreaked far more havoc on Kenya than Tanzania’s failed Ujamaa ideology. Subsequently, a number of commissions were established to improve it, including the Wanjigi reports from 1983 and the Kamunge report from 1999, the majority of which were adopted in part by the late President Daniel Moi.
The 8-4-4 educational system was replaced in 2017 with the Competency Based Curriculum (CBC), which places more emphasis on the importance of developing knowledge, skills, and applications of those abilities to provide employment prospects.
Every antiquated educational system, dating back to the Swahili text of 1724, as well as the 7–4 – 2 – 3, 8–4 – 4, and even the CBC, had its own unique cracks.
For this reason, all parties involved in education should make sure that the current curriculum becomes a success story through their forceful intervention.
Reviewing the curriculum is essential to raising the caliber and applicability of education.
More Teachers Updates
Follow Us on Telegram.