Have you ever wondered how 844 was made? I'll tell you, and then maybe you can understand why it became what it was. After all, when we have learned something from BBI, we have that everything has a basic structure; what makes it what it is, it's DNA if you will. 

 844 was "prepared" in paragraphs 34, 35, and 37 of the 1981 MacKay Report, also known as the "Report of the Presidential Group on the establishment of the Second University in Kenya". This university was eventually founded and named Moi University. 

•  Paragraph 34 states “that the ALevel section should be completely abolished and the entire education system restructured accordingly” 
•  Paragraph 35 says: “that higher education lasts at least four years (4). The first year aims to introduce students socially and intellectually into university life and lay the foundations of school education. "
•  Paragraph 37 states:" In order to rationalize the educational system of the country as a whole, the current system of primary education extended from seven (7) to eight 8 years. 

Now you may be wondering to what extent the origin story of Moi University is relevant to 844. stay with me ... 

President Moi once wanted to establish a second university in Kenya. In addition to this noble idea, he also had political problems to solve; Central Kenya, where most of his real and imagined enemies came from, and Luo Nyanza. 

To make this plan a reality, he appointed a Presidential Task Force led by Dr. Colin B. MacKay (Canadian) and represented by Prof. Douglas Odhiambo. (Keep this in mind). There was also an anonymous American. 

MacKay's group was given six months to complete their work and they agreed, and I quote, "that no topic should be covered or elaborated on, as it would be to the detriment of others." They were so under time pressure that data collection took a record 16 days (2 days at each provincial headquarters). 

MacKay and his team admitted that while some areas of the country were well served in terms of primary and secondary schools and therefore likely had better access to higher education (think central Kenya), there were parts of the country, especially arid areas. and semi-arid areas that have been disadvantaged in access to education. At that time, central Kenya had a significant number of 4,444 ALevel schools and the ALevel exam was the university entrance exam. 

The MacKay team also recognized that the offsetting effect was an increase in public demand for more institutions of postsecondary education and colleges in the country. 

This problem had been anticipated and two previous working groups, the Ominde Commission (1964) and the NCEOP (1976), had made some serious recommendations. The NCEOP had recommended an investment and increase in AL level institutions. They had also recommended that all 4th graders move on to 5th and 6th grades. The Ominde report, on the other hand, recommended the establishment of secondary schools. 

The MacKay Commission, however, had a different mindset. His cure for the need for more ALevel institutions has been to abolish ALevel schools because, and I quote, "the ALevel education program now clearly generates false hopes among many students about their potential ability to attend higher education." Irritated, they said the cost of setting up high schools and transferring all students to grades 5 and 6 was too high. In short, the government of the time had different priorities. 

The committee also seemed to think that expanding opportunities and adding more places to study could also help correct the perception that a college degree can only belong to a small, educated elite. An increasing number of graduates would challenge those who have already graduated. I quoted this text verbatim from paragraph 5 of this report. 

Remember what I said about most of the ALevel institutions in central Kenya and the need to invest and build in other parts of the country? Do you also remember that the establishment of Moi University was supposed to solve some political problems (including the "problem" that many intellectuals/professors came from Luo Nyanza)? Well, the MacKay report said the university had to be built away from the capital (read Eldoret) and then they made ALevel completely redundant. Not because any research is done or necessary, but because the government couldn't bother to build more A-level high schools and Moi had to dilute the dominance of the two tribes that gave him headaches. 

• ALevel should be replaced by an additional year in college, which should serve to introduce students socially and intellectually to college life and lay the foundation for school education. This never happened. One is called up to college for a specialized program (this is what CBC High School is trying to cure). 

844, therefore, was not about addressing the perceived challenges of the system before it. It was logical, even accidental. It was the fortuitous consequences of the creation of Moi University and the use of its foundation to suffocate regions. It was the first of many plans to alleviate poverty rather than empower the marginalized. There was no great plan ... no advice, no research, no need to complete it. The methodology used to come up with it was an insult to this country. Its very DNA was flawed. 

It was a political process that we have been trying to fix and work out ever since. And because it was fatally flawed from the beginning, all interventions only served to butcher it and make it worse.

Do you remember the vice-chair of the MacKay commission Prof Odhiambo? Well, in 2012 Prof Odhiambo was the chair of  "The Task Force on the Re-alignment of the Education Sector to the Constitution of Kenya 2010" and his recommendation was to do away with 8-4-4.

Going back to 8-4-4 is not safe or the right thing to do..and frankly speaking, there is no fixing it. We have progressed in spite of it, not because of it.

Every time you start something new, it has growing pains, and it is easy to think that the past is better and less painful. It's the same with CBC. It's experiencing growing pains and so we are romanticizing 8-4-4 and painting it as something it wasn't. 

Let's demand better implementation of CBC. 8-4-4 and what it had become in Egypt. The one of the 10 plagues, not the one with the pyramids. 

Let us not go back there.

PS: Just FYI, Moi University was established in 1984 and 8-4-4 was rolled out in 1985

Competence-Based Curriculum, according to UNESCO, is a curriculum that emphasizes the complex outcomes of a learning process (i.e. knowledge, skills and attitudes to be applied by learners) rather than mainly focusing on what learners are expected to learn about in terms of traditionally-defined subject content. In principle, such a curriculum is learner-centered and adaptive to the changing needs of students, teachers, and society. It implies that learning activities and environments are chosen so that learners can acquire and apply the knowledge, skills, and attitudes to situations they encounter in everyday life. Competency-based curricula are usually designed around a set of key competencies/competencies that can be cross-curricular and/or subject-bound.

Have you ever wondered how 844 was made? I'll tell you, and then maybe you can understand why it became what it was. After all, when we have learned something from BBI, we have that everything has a basic structure; what makes it what it is, it's DNA if you will. 

 844 was "prepared" in paragraphs 34, 35, and 37 of the 1981 MacKay Report, also known as the "Report of the Presidential Group on the establishment of the Second University in Kenya". This university was eventually founded and named Moi University. 

•  Paragraph 34 states “that the ALevel section should be completely abolished and the entire education system restructured accordingly” 
•  Paragraph 35 says: “that higher education lasts at least four years (4). The first year aims to introduce students socially and intellectually into university life and lay the foundations of school education. "
•  Paragraph 37 states:" In order to rationalize the educational system of the country as a whole, the current system of primary education extended from seven (7) to eight 8 years. 

Now you may be wondering to what extent the origin story of Moi University is relevant to 844. stay with me ... 

President Moi once wanted to establish a second university in Kenya. In addition to this noble idea, he also had political problems to solve; Central Kenya, where most of his real and imagined enemies came from, and Luo Nyanza. 

To make this plan a reality, he appointed a Presidential Task Force led by Dr. Colin B. MacKay (Canadian) and represented by Prof. Douglas Odhiambo. (Keep this in mind). There was also an anonymous American. 

MacKay's group was given six months to complete their work and they agreed, and I quote, "that no topic should be covered or elaborated on, as it would be to the detriment of others." They were so under time pressure that data collection took a record 16 days (2 days at each provincial headquarters). 

MacKay and his team admitted that while some areas of the country were well served in terms of primary and secondary schools and therefore likely had better access to higher education (think central Kenya), there were parts of the country, especially arid areas. and semi-arid areas that have been disadvantaged in access to education. At that time, central Kenya had a significant number of 4,444 ALevel schools and the ALevel exam was the university entrance exam. 

The MacKay team also recognized that the offsetting effect was an increase in public demand for more institutions of postsecondary education and colleges in the country. 

This problem had been anticipated and two previous working groups, the Ominde Commission (1964) and the NCEOP (1976), had made some serious recommendations. The NCEOP had recommended an investment and increase in AL level institutions. They had also recommended that all 4th graders move on to 5th and 6th grades. The Ominde report, on the other hand, recommended the establishment of secondary schools. 

The MacKay Commission, however, had a different mindset. His cure for the need for more ALevel institutions has been to abolish ALevel schools because, and I quote, "the ALevel education program now clearly generates false hopes among many students about their potential ability to attend higher education." Irritated, they said the cost of setting up high schools and transferring all students to grades 5 and 6 was too high. In short, the government of the time had different priorities. 

The committee also seemed to think that expanding opportunities and adding more places to study could also help correct the perception that a college degree can only belong to a small, educated elite. An increasing number of graduates would challenge those who have already graduated. I quoted this text verbatim from paragraph 5 of this report. 

Remember what I said about most of the ALevel institutions in central Kenya and the need to invest and build in other parts of the country? Do you also remember that the establishment of Moi University was supposed to solve some political problems (including the "problem" that many intellectuals/professors came from Luo Nyanza)? Well, the MacKay report said the university had to be built away from the capital (read Eldoret) and then they made ALevel completely redundant. Not because any research is done or necessary, but because the government couldn't bother to build more A-level high schools and Moi had to dilute the dominance of the two tribes that gave him headaches. 

• ALevel should be replaced by an additional year in college, which should serve to introduce students socially and intellectually to college life and lay the foundation for school education. This never happened. One is called up to college for a specialized program (this is what CBC High School is trying to cure). 

844, therefore, was not about addressing the perceived challenges of the system before it. It was logical, even accidental. It was the fortuitous consequences of the creation of Moi University and the use of its foundation to suffocate regions. It was the first of many plans to alleviate poverty rather than empower the marginalized. There was no great plan ... no advice, no research, no need to complete it. The methodology used to come up with it was an insult to this country. Its very DNA was flawed. 

It was a political process that we have been trying to fix and work out ever since. And because it was fatally flawed from the beginning, all interventions only served to butcher it and make it worse.

Do you remember the vice-chair of the MacKay commission Prof Odhiambo? Well, in 2012 Prof Odhiambo was the chair of  "The Task Force on the Re-alignment of the Education Sector to the Constitution of Kenya 2010" and his recommendation was to do away with 8-4-4.

Going back to 8-4-4 is not safe or the right thing to do..and frankly speaking, there is no fixing it. We have progressed in spite of it, not because of it.

Every time you start something new, it has growing pains, and it is easy to think that the past is better and less painful. It's the same with CBC. It's experiencing growing pains and so we are romanticizing 8-4-4 and painting it as something it wasn't. 

Let's demand better implementation of CBC. 8-4-4 and what it had become in Egypt. The one of the 10 plagues, not the one with the pyramids. 

Let us not go back there.

PS: Just FYI, Moi University was established in 1984 and 8-4-4 was rolled out in 1985

Competence-Based Curriculum, according to UNESCO, is a curriculum that emphasizes the complex outcomes of a learning process (i.e. knowledge, skills and attitudes to be applied by learners) rather than mainly focusing on what learners are expected to learn about in terms of traditionally-defined subject content. In principle, such a curriculum is learner-centered and adaptive to the changing needs of students, teachers, and society. It implies that learning activities and environments are chosen so that learners can acquire and apply the knowledge, skills, and attitudes to situations they encounter in everyday life. Competency-based curricula are usually designed around a set of key competencies/competencies that can be cross-curricular and/or subject-bound.