Education Reforms: What Kenya Must Learn From Japan In CBC Implementation
Competence Based Curriculum (CBC)
By Gitau wa Kung’u
Worth Noting:
- China and Japan could not be the most technologically advanced republics were it not for the CBC education system.
- Kenya, however has a leaf to borrow from the Japanese experience after the incorporation of the CBC program. The integration came with its challenges that delayed the productivity of the system in Japan.
- Kenya has already inherited the first mistake that Japan did last century by changing the existing system. The Japanese government hastened to introduce the CBC program without a sustainable strategic action implementation plan.
- Just like Kenyan education sector’s stakeholders are rushing in a hustle and bustle whilst crushing under the pressure of the implementation, so did Japan’s.
A society without education and a society with little education is a society with an intellectually, socially, technologically, economically, politically and socially gloomy future. And so is the society that does not nurture and empower its young, blooming talents.
A well-educated and informed society that nurtures and empowers its talents creates a thriving ground for a wholely creative, productive, happy, nourished, giving and harmonious society.
The innovation of the new Competence Based Curriculum (CBC) into the Kenyan education system by the former president Uhuru Kenyatta’s Jubilee government was a big reap into a wealthier Kenya’s future.
For that, I highly regard the Jubilee government’s regime.
Nevertheless, just like every favourite flower blooms in the pollination season, the CBC bloomed to disperse the seeds of a better education system.
The CBC program which is originally from China, was borrowed and incorporated into the Japanese education system in the mid last century.
China and Japan could not be the most technologically advanced republics were it not for the CBC education system.
Kenya, however has a leaf to borrow from the Japanese experience after the incorporation of the CBC program. The integration came with its challenges that delayed the productivity of the system in Japan.
Kenya has already inherited the first mistake that Japan did last century by changing the existing system. The Japanese government hastened to introduce the CBC program without a sustainable strategic action implementation plan.
Just like Kenyan education sector’s stakeholders are rushing in a hustle and bustle whilst crushing under the pressure of the implementation, so did Japan’s.
In our case, the ever rising cost of living contributed immensely by corruption, impunity and the ever increasing taxes has greatly affected the CBC implementation.
Parents with CBC kids have to sweat more to provide learning materials, the pupils who were taking the 8-4-4 system have to deal with new syllabus requirements, the CBC teachers are always on the streets demanding better working conditions and employment terms and that’s not all.
The institutions of learning are crying after the government has failed to equip necessary educational infrastructure like chemical laboratories and computer libraries.
The government on the other hand, even with increasing funds to the education sector is not delivering the surmountable needs due to issues not limited to the challenges of paying international depts, competition from other sectors and of course, corruption and the lack of a sustainable educational policy and strategic action implementation plan for the program.
Going back to the Japanese experience, the most significant lesson to learn from is that holding of the CBC implementation pressure for around half a century eventually broke the resilience of the society.
From the early ‘90s, cases of mental illnesses increased in Japan. Students became more aggressive, definitely due to the pressure induced both at home and in school. The suicide rates increased amongst young parents, sweeping even teenagers.
In 1994, Japan recorded significant loss of CBC learners to suicide. Why did it happen?
We shall not go further than answering the question with the following context. Kenya’s contemporary situation with regard to the increase in mental health retardation and crime rates, the rise of the Gen Z revolt are good examples to give the evidence.
With meagre earnings, parents are unable to wholely provide for the basic needs and at the same time, the excruciating needs of their children’s educational needs. Rates of suicide have increased due to partly, the inability of the young unemployed parents to facilitate their young families’ needs.
Do we have to wait until our school children start hanging under nooses to learn from the Japanese experience? No.
First, the government must borrow from the East by dumping the 8-4-4 system’s educational philosophy that was more invested in pumping more bookish knowledge than skills in the demanding digital, tech-savvy 21st century.
The Japanese education system allows pupils three years of learning without any examination whatsoever. The system is based on an educational philosophy that is embedded in the rich cultural heritage of the East.
Until 4th Grade, the system invests first on laying an indelible foundation for the wholesomeness of the Japanese citizen in all the society parameters. First, the system invests all focus on fostering outstanding character and behavioural development, communication and social skills.
The educational philosophy invests first on emotional, character and social development before academic activities start at 4th Grade.
What is the need of teaching students, with a purpose to create a better community only to have the students later go astray into alcoholism after employment, or get sucked into corruption and crime, including Cybercrime?
The Kenyan CBC education system must incorporate an educational philosophy that first nurtures a population with respect based on the African virtues that foster principled moral and ethical foundations and creates a momentum for the population to uptake the wisdom of the rich indigenous African philosophical and ideological values.
The writer is a Moi University undergraduate student, Editor for The Legacy Press, Moi University Publication and Founder of Honia-Heal Afrika Initiative HAI Digital Bookclub
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