My major reservation with the 8-4-4 system in Kenya is that it nurtures and extols only one type of excellence – academic.
Do not get me wrong, this is a much needed function in society. However, we need musicians, athletes, carpenters, masons, cooks and so on as much as we need doctors, engineers, lawyers, architects, etc.
A proper overhaul of the curriculum and the infrastructure to implement it would mean an inclusion of all skills sets. With the current system an ‘A’ simply means an academic excellent student (not to say that you can not be academically and technically gifted) and a ‘D’ means one is not. However, the same A could be a D if the 2 students were say gauged on music alone or sports alone and the one with a D would have an A.
My point is, to get the best out of the population we need to thoroughly revamp the education system. This would in effect have everyone giving their best to themselves and the national economy at large. As it is, many unemployed persons are victims of this very same system that only acknowledges academic excellence.
It limit talent development and tend to focus more on theory than practical
8-4-4 curriculum started of in 1985 during this time, it cannibalized 7-4-2-3 education cycle a formal education system introduced by the British Colonial rule in 1963.the 8-4-4 curriculum was heavily theoretical and driven by demand for learners to excel in examinations.Lack of Special Needs Curriculum
8-4-4 severely lacked a curriculum for learners with special needs. 8-4-4 placed all learners in one basket including the visually impaired, hearing impaired and the physically impaired. This placed them at a distinct disadvantage as they too must also sit for the same national examination
It focuses more on theory than practical.
It focuses more on assessments and evaluation than career building.
The kenya’s 8-4-4 system does not discover the talents of our children at an early stage. A child is forced through a wide education programme whereas he is supposed to cover a wide area of study which will not benefit him/ her in future.
Despite the fact that CBC is said to be expensive, it discovers a childs specialty at an early stage.