A teacher and her pupils inside a classroom during a lesson.
National values and principles of governance such as patriotism, national unity, sharing and devolution of power, rule of law could soon be taught in schools and examined if the National Assembly approves a proposed legislation under consideration.
The draft Education Laws (Amendment) Bill 2024 seeks to amend various Acts of education to introduce nationhood science as an examinable subject from pre-primary to higher education level as part of entrenching national values in learners at an early stage.
The Bill sponsored by Suba South MP Caroli Omondi seeks to cultivate national values and principles as outlined in Article 10 of the constitution.
“The principal object of this Bill is to amend the Universities Act, 2012, the Technical and Vocational Education and Training Act, 2013, the Basic Education Act, 2013 and the Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development, 2013,” reads the Bill.
According to Article 10 of the constitution, the national values and principles of governance include patriotism, national unity, sharing and devolution of power, rule of law and democracy
It also includes human dignity, equity, social justice, inclusiveness, equality, human rights, non-discrimination and protection of the marginalised.
Further, Article 10 also includes good governance, integrity, accountability and sustainable development.
While defending the Bill before the Budget and Appropriations committee, Mr Omondi said countries such as Singapore and Sweden that have included such subjects in their curriculum have low corruption, have more cohesion, and have high economic development.
“The proposal is to elevate these values and principles into a curriculum that is then thought of as a subject throughout the various levels of our educational system. If you look at all the corporations, countries that do not have this kind of education have a lot of problems. This is what puts together our fight against corruption, our fight against tribalism, our fight against economic mismanagement, and basically create one nation built on these values,” Mr Omondi said.
He said implementation of the proposal will not be expensive to taxpayers saying benefits outweigh the cost.
“It is not very costly if you look at the costs that have been enumerated. These are for the actual development of the curriculum. But in terms of implementation, it will be the same schools, the same teachers, and the same institutions. And the impact and the value that will come out of it, I think we cannot put a price on having a functioning country.” Mr Omondi said.
“There is no price for that. It is like trying to put a price to a human life. This is what we call the life of Kenya, if we get it right,” he added.
According to an analysis done by the Parliamentary Budget Office, it will cost taxpayers Sh447 million to actualise proposals contained in the Bill.
Out of the amount, KICD will need Sh142,501,425 for various activities such as development of a policy, orientation of curriculum developers and trainers, needs assessment survey, development of program design, presentation of design to course panel, editing and integrating inputs from course panel.
Other areas where the money will be utilised include monitoring and quality assurance, development of learners’ books, development of trainers’ resource books, development of training manual, presentation of the design to academic committee and teachers and education field officers orientation.
At the schools level which includes the basic level which encompass primary and secondary, Technical and vocational Education Training (TVET) and university, it will cost taxpayers Sh305, 418,551 for full implementation of the proposals contained in the Bill.
According to the PBO, at the basic education level, it will cost taxpayers Sh47, 500, 475 in the first year of implementation of the Bill, Sh50, 825,508 in the second year and Sh54, 383,294 in the final year.
At theTVET level, it will cost Sh23, 750,237 for implementation of the Bill in the first year, Sh25, 412,754 in the second year and 27,191,646 in the third year.
At the university level, the budget projects that it will cost taxpayers Sh95,000, 949 in the first year, Sh101,651 in the second year and Sh108,766,587 in the final year of implementation of the new subject.
