On Thursday, June 20, the High Court dismissed a petition challenging the Ministry of Education's transition from the 8-4-4 system to the 2-6-3-3-3 Competence-Based Curriculum (CBC).
The case, filed in 2021 by former Law Society of Kenya President Nelson Havi, was determined by a three-judge bench.
"Petition dismissed: no evidence to support any grounds relied upon, and significant funds have been allocated for implementation," Havi stated after the ruling.
He also mentioned that the Cabinet Secretary for Education is to amend the Basic Education Act and enact regulations to domicile the CBC within 120 days. Havi confirmed he would not appeal the ruling.
The bench, consisting of Judges Hedwig Ongundi, Antony Mrima, and Antony Ndung'u, expressed that the transition to CBC offered more benefits to learners.
"The Competency-Based Curriculum has already been rolled out, teachers have been trained, and the government has allocated finances for implementation," part of the ruling read.
The judges indicated that halting the CBC implementation would disrupt the education system, given the extent of investment.
Havi's petition claimed that the new curriculum was unlawful and unconstitutional. However, the court noted that scrapping the system would lead to job losses for thousands of teachers employed for Junior Secondary School under the CBC system.
Additionally, the court ruled that there was no evidence of how students would benefit from reverting to the previous system after studying under CBC for six years.
The CBC curriculum was introduced in 2019 by the late Cabinet Secretary for Education, George Magoha, despite opposition from key education stakeholders.
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