Implementation of Moral Education in Kenyan Schools: A Possibility or an Illusion? Some Critical Reflections
There is no doubt that morality is a fundamental tenet of any form of education. Any system of education that fails to pursue moral development of learners as one of the aims of education fails on a critical aspect of society. The assumption behind these observations is that morality, by and large, shapes people’s behavior in a positive direction thus making society peaceful, harmonious and develop faster. Whenever immorality reigns supreme, society is in chaos, brutish and incapable of prosperity. The Kenyan government has rolled out a new system of education dubbed competence based curriculum (CBC), currently in grade 5. This paper critically analyses how the CBC is prepared to implement moral education (ME) in Kenyan school. In its reflection, the paper tries to find out whether the approaches used within the CBC curriculum are different from the 8.4.4, and thus speculate the chances of success and failure. Core in this reflection is the notion of criteria for a successful implementation of a ME curricula. The paper employs the critical method of philosophy and the prescriptive method, though other philosophical methods are alluded to. It is established that the CBC is ill-prepared to implement moral aims of education. It is recommended that the Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development (KICD) in conjunction with the ministry of education develops a moral education curriculum for Kenyan schools.
