TO BE, OR NOT TO CBC?

5 min readSep 24, 2022

The only proper way to start this article is by asking, what the actual heck is CBC?!

CBC first and foremost means Competency Based Curriculum. However, that then begs the question, isn’t all learning based on creating competency in a particular area? If not, then what have we been doing? What’s the difference?

Ever since Daniel Arap Moi, Kenya’s second president, introduced the 8–4–4 system, Kenya has held true to it for the better part of her independent existence. In recent years however, President Kenyatta’s administration has attempted to scrap the old (8–4–4) and introduce the new (CBC). Before Moi and Kenyatta there was the British Colonialist influence, but because today’s focus is more on Kenya’s attempt at settling on an educational system, let’s leave them and their education system out of the picture. For the sake of time, and more importantly your attention span, I won’t go into the finer details of the system. I’ll leave links to websites and articles that help in understanding Kenya’s journey with regard to education.

Let’s start with how long you’re expected to be a student in the CBC system. The CBC’s 2–6–3–3–3 structure adds one additional year to a student’s timeframe, in comparison to 8–4–4. Also, it adds two extra levels of learning, it does so by splitting the Primary school level into two 3-year terms (Lower primary & Upper primary) and the senior school level into two 3-year terms as well (Lower senior school & Upper Senior school). So, it’s more 2–3–3–3–3–3 in my view. My personal take on this split, is that it gives students the opportunity to stagger their learning instead of gulping it all down in one take. This opportunity allows students to spend more time figuring out how best they learn, what most they’re interested in and how to merge those two. Finally, there is the higher levels of education, University and TVET schools. TVET stands for, Technical & Vocational Education & Training. If we’re keen, it’s easy to see that the focus on vocational training by the Kenyatta administration was always going to be a hallmark of his legacy. From Kazi Mtaani to Buy Kenya Build Kenya, the previous administration was big on creating a workforce out of skilled craftspeople and manual labour.

I still don’t feel like I’ve answered the question posed in the first paragraph, and that’s largely because there is very limited official writing on the matter. There are a few academic pieces but none can easily be summarised and none are linguistically accessible to the general population; which is a massive problem in its own right. So, let’s try and simplify it. How is it different? For starters it’s got more levels to it and one additional year. Secondly, instead of two life determining tests, the twin demons of KCPE and KCSE; there is a more staggered testing approach. There will be continuous testing throughout the student’s education process, each test totting up to their final performance score. Finally, the tests are based more on application and problem solving, less on content cramming and textbook regurgitation.

What are the pros and cons of this new approach? one might ask. The pros are largely in theory and to be honest will not be recognised until well into the future, when the first few classes join the workforce. Having said that, there are some present and near future gains we might see. The most important is an improvement in the learning experience. Having two high pressure exams really puts a strain on students and their families. For two years leading up to the exams, families put their children’s childhoods on hold. Instead, they bury them in books and private tuition, if they can afford it, all in an attempt to get them to the other side (Secondary School or University) unscathed. This is neither healthy nor is it sustainable. Hence why over the years we’ve seen strikes, razes, suicides, student attacks on teachers, and all manner of violent acts in schools. Most notably the bullying incident at the most prestigious national high-school in the land, Alliance. As previously mentioned, long term pros are speculative at best and will be noticed, hopefully, by the level of successful problem-solving individuals in the Kenyan society in ten or twenty years.

Now, for the cons. The cons I believe are more focused on the practical implementation of the system. For starters, the process of implementing the programme began half a decade ago and still it is mired by confusion and scepticism. The government, and in particular the Education ministry, failed to properly educate the stakeholders on what it takes to install this new system and what will be required of them. Therefore, we now find ourselves at the dawn of a new regime and talk of scrapping the CBC system has once again risen. President William Ruto and his allies have been openly critical of the new system and are currently setting up a committee to review it. This uncertainty doesn’t bode well for students, who may just end up having been half educated in more than one system. I do agree with the president however, when he talks about involving the public in determining the future of education. People need to be told, in a manner that is simple and in their language, what to expect for their children.

So, as I conclude, we have looked at the CBC; what it is and what it means for stakeholders. We’ve also assessed the successes and failures it carries. Finally, we’ve also acknowledged the uncertainty surrounding it in this new Ruto tenure. What we haven’t discussed is the hopes we have for the new system. One personal hope I have is that Kenyan culture is embraced within the new system. That everything that is taught is taught through the lenses of Kenya first, then of Africa and then of the world. Let’s foster pride in our culture, because for so long we’ve tried mimicking western culture. Instead of short topics focused on Swahili culture, Cushitic culture, Nilotic culture and Bantu culture, I hope to see an in-depth forensic study into all those cultures and more. That’s my personal hope, what’s yours?

As always feel free to comment or send me your opinion. I’d be more than happy to interact with any one of you on any of the topics I write about.