Commission for University Education (CUE) Chairman Professor Chacha Nyaigotti-Chacha has advised education stakeholders to ensure that the ongoing curriculum review process is learner-centered.
Noting that a review of the current educational structure is inevitable, Professor Chacha told stakeholders attending the National Education Conference hosted by Aga Khan University's Institute for Educational Development (IED) to ensure they do not exert their influence on the process at the expense of pupils and students who need a quality education for success in their careers and vocations.
“Any reform that is not informed on the basis of the good opportunities that will be availed to the learner is not good reform,” the CUE chairman said. “We must always take into consideration the interest of the learner in terms of what he or she is able to get from the education system.”
Professor Chacha also called on stakeholders within the East African region to work together in promoting quality teaching and learning so as to improve socio-economic development in the region.
“We do believe that the education system will enhance togetherness. The economic bloc that we are building, through the East African community, can be enhanced by the way we conduct business in classrooms and the people we produce from our schools and from our institutions including our universities,” he said.
The conference brought together around 100 policymakers, teachers, and education stakeholders to discuss relevant issues affecting education in East Africa.
“We believe that if we are to make an impact and change in the societies we work in, we cannot confine ourselves in academic institutions,” said IED East Africa Director Professor Joe Lugalla. “And we must engage policymakers and education stakeholders in identifying educational reforms that support educational development in East Africa.”
This year's conference will focus on maximising change in education that will provide every Kenyan learner with world-class standards in the skills and knowledge that they need and deserve to thrive in the 21st century.
“What kind of socialisation agenda, whether it’s in the home, the community, or the school, will put us on a different path?” asked Dr Kofi Marfo, Director of AKU's Institute of Human Development. “So that in addition to the curricula that is providing us all the cognition we can have, we’ll create a different society in which we understand that there is something called a common good and each one of us has a role to play in the development of that common good.”
The conference's theme is Maximising Educational Change: Research, Policy, Leadership, Technology and Curriculum. The event will run until April 17.