Government hosts 4th African Curriculum Association Conference in Nairobi

African States have been asked to design curricula that will not only enable African youth to work but empower them to be creative and originators of tangible solutions to many challenges facing the continent. 

The Ministry of Education in collaboration with Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development (KICD) is hosting the 4^th African Curriculum Association (ACA) Conference at KICD. The theme of the conference is ‘Learning for Sustainable Features Connections Between Curriculum, Cognition, and Context’.

Participants at the fourth African Curriculum Association (ACA) Conference in Nairobi heard how the continent is lagging behind because of outdated or inappropriate learning content that hardly helps human capital formation optimize performance.

“When I taught in the US before joining politics at home, I observed the gaps that were there between our system and that of the US and I picked positive lessons that I used for establishing model classes in Ghana,” said  Ghana Education Minister Dr Yaw Osei Adutwum.

He further illustrated  how a model school in Ghana has revolutionized classroom instruction that matches any in the developed West. Osei  continued to say that for African people to prosper, competency-based approaches are the way to go.

CS for Education Ezekiel Machogu noted that African governments have faced myriad problems in implementing curricula terming the theme of the conference timely and  urged participants to put their best foot forward in coming up with solutions as they ‘cross-fertilise’ ideas from different countries.

The Principal Secretary, State Department for Higher Education and Research, Ministry of Education Dr Beatrice Inyangala noted that Kenya was at the dawn of economic take off and that the new curriculum is geared towards equipping students with skills that are readily required in the market.

She insisted teachers must strive to be creative in their teaching to capture the imagination of learners. 

Prof Charles Ong’ondo the Executive Director KICD  gave a brief overview of the process and status of curriculum reform at the basic education level in Kenya.

“I recommend that educators generally and curriculum developers in particular need to engage in robust contextual analyze and map strategies for navigating them to enhance the acceptability, ownership and support for the curricula with ultimate focus on learning for sustainable futures,” he noted.