Kenya Union of Post Primary Teachers KUPPET has urged the task force on CBC to collect views from education stakeholders in order to come up with a report that will be acceptable to all concerned Kenyans.
National secretary for tertiary teachers Sammy Chelangat said the review must address the claims from parents that the system ‘was not only expensive but time-consuming to them’.
Speaking during the KUPPET’S annual general meeting in Garissa, Chelangat said the union will be presenting their views that will touch on critical areas that need to be addressed.
“We welcome the task force and we want to say that as a teachers’ union we have our opinion as professionals and people who must be consulted on matters of education. As KUPPET we will be presenting our memorandum in all the 47 counties where we have braches,” Chelangat said.
“We will have representatives to present our views. What we are saying is that the system might be good or might have issues here and there. But we want to ask that there must be involvement from all Kenyans,” he added.
Chelangat said that the issues they want to be addressed are among others that education must not be expensive noting that the current system was not favoring the poor in society.
“We don’t want an education tailored for the elite but one that is learners-centered. These are some of the things we want to capture very well by the task force. The bottom line is we have another chance to correct things and come up with a system that will be accepted by Kenyans,” he said.
The KUPPET secretary asked the TSC to decentralize the Teachers’ Professional Development (TPD) program to the counties so that teachers can join universities near to them.
“I wonder which criteria the TSC used to arrive at the decision to carry out the TPD program for the teacher’s workstations because the arrangement is not only inconveniencing them but also raising the cost of the training,” he said.
A section of Garissa leaders present led by Mohammed Dekow said the system should not be scraped but rather be improved and urged teachers to fully participate in giving out their recommendations.
The 49-member task force under the chairmanship of Prof Raphael Munavu was constituted to seek views from the public and recommend an appropriate structure to fast-track its implementation.
Further, they are expected to come up with a framework on how CBC will be examined among other issues.
- By KNA