KNEC Exams will have no policemen with guns under CBC – KICD CEO Ochieng’ Ong’ondo Says
Although many parents argue that the implementation of Competence-Based Curriculum (CBC) in the education system was a burden on students, experts argue that it was a less burden than the 8-4-4 system that is being phased out.
As such, CBC is about formative assessment, which accounts for 60% of total marks, with grades 4, 5, and 6 accounting for 20% each, and the remaining 40% obtained from the final assessment in grade 6 to determine whether there is consistency in performance.
Prof. Ochieng’ Ong’ondo, Chief Executive Officer of the Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development (KICD), provided the insight while presiding over training for Quality Assurance Officers, County CBC committees, and education stakeholders at St. Teresa’s Girls in Kisumu.
Prof. Ong’ondo stated that, unlike previous Kenya National Examinations Council (KNEC) administered examinations, there will be no police officers armed with guns and invigilators subjected to sleepless nights in the name of ensuring the exercise’s security.
He thought it was ridiculous that there were no more challenges of exam cheating in Kisumu and its environs, but in certain parts of South Nyanza, the vice still exists, despite the fact that KNEC had to send in monitors in addition to the invigilators.
The don also chastised some of the prayer sessions held in schools for candidates, as well as songs with messages depicting exams as a matter of life and death.
“It is unfortunate that such prayers and songs declare that the candidates are going to war which is actually far from the truth. This is the misconception that CBC has set out to correct and demystify while exercising the perceived spirits and unfounded threats,’ he explained.
Prof. Ong’ondo stated that CBC introduced the concept of remote learning, which proved quite useful during the COVID-19 period because the government chose to keep learners positively engaged for more than 9 months in order for them not to completely forget what they had previously learned.
He praised Kenya for coming in second place in Africa after Egypt, and for quickly overtaking South Africa after introducing radio, television, and online lessons, which have greatly supplemented traditional schoolwork.
“At Edu TV for example, we have lessons every day for learners in grade 4, 5 and 6 apart from offering a digital platform on KICD cloud for all subjects to effectively supplement normal lessons in schools. For online, the government provides free data to do so,” he said.
Prof. Ong’ondo revealed that they began parental engagement to dispel claims from some quarters that CBC has imposed a heavy burden on parents, some of whom have technically vanished from their homes to avoid helping their children with homework.
He made the remarks after a group of participants blamed parents for abdicating their responsibility of assisting young learners with their homework and instilling discipline, instead of transferring this noble course to teachers.
They also attributed this to the genesis of persistent secondary school burning, which was deeply rooted and thus required concerted efforts to curb before the vice spiralled into a full-fledged disaster in the education sector.
Prof. Ong’ondo described the CBC curriculum as visionary, noting that the government has committed enormous resources to ensure its success by providing public schools with access to power and internet services, in addition to tablets and other learning tools.
He argued that there is no globally equal society or the education system, paraphrasing Cabinet Secretary for Education Prof. George Magoha, who conducted numerous inspection tours of schools across the country.
The don also urged parents to report cases of cyberbullying, as well as students viewing inappropriate materials such as pornography or visiting sites that are not intended for them, particularly when they access smartphones belonging to parents and friends.
The KICD Chief Executive Officer stated that the Kenya Education Cloud (KEC) has already been launched to help ensure learner safety and that the website is www.kec.ac.ke, which stakeholders seeking important information should visit.
Participants also expressed concern about the slow uploading and downloading of assessment tests and results, as the system frequently becomes clogged as a result of the large number of people attempting to access it for various reasons.
They proposed that KNEC print materials in the future to level the playing field between public and private schools.
Security in public schools became a major issue after word spread quickly that more than 40% of the gadgets supplied by the national government had been stolen. Robbers in Kisumu County, for example, killed elderly watchmen who tried to stop them.
They also urged the government to ensure that certain vote heads were not based on individual students, and they added that there was an urgent need to review financial allocation to primary schools as a next step.
Prof. Ong’ondo stated that in light of COVID-19, the government has had difficulties financing learning institutions other than the capitation of Ksh.1400 per child, and he urged school heads and management committees to persuade parents to supplement government funding.
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Kisumu County Director of Education, Isaac Atebe, told the forum that the county has 850 primary schools (616 public and 234 private) with a total enrollment of 297,100 students.
There are 839 public Early Childhood Development Centers (ECDs), 612 private ones, 230 public secondary schools, and 71 private schools in this category, with a total of 107000 students, according to Atebe.
KNEC Exams will have no policemen with guns under CBC – KICD CEO Ochieng’ Ong’ondo Says
