Education curriculum should feature all Kenyan tribes, says NCIC

By Joel Okwayo

The National Cohesion and Integration Commission (NCIC) is formulating a policy that will see all tribes feature in the education curriculum.

NCIC said it would present to the Ministry of Education a report calling for the review of history syllabus.

The commission says it wants to ensure all communities are captured in the curriculum. “It is wrong for some communities to feature in subjects taught in schools right from primary to university while others are not mentioned,” said commission chairman Mzalendo Kibunjia.

He explained that all communities are equal and the syllabus should either capture all tribes or ignore them altogether.

“How do you expect a student to be happy when his tribe is not recognised in the education system?” wondered Kibunjia.

He was speaking in Kakamega during a workshop organised to develop a common understanding on gains and shortcomings towards realisation of a peaceful nation.

Educationists Hellen Mwanzi, Egara Kabaji and Bobby Mkangi said the curriculum should also be redesigned to include topics on operations of counties and the central government.

County examinations

Mwanzi proposed that pupils in Standard Four sit county examinations to test their knowledge before being examined at Standard Eight nationally. She argued that this would enable the learners understand the operations of county governments before moving to other levels of government.

Kibunjia said NCIC was against the formation of alliances by political parties, saying such alliances would discriminate against communities with smaller populations.

“We are against all forms of discrimination. Some communities may not ascend to the top seat if alliances have to be formed,” said Kibunjia.

He said leaders should agree on how to share positions in counties to ensure smaller tribes are not left out during the composition of county assemblies.