High school teachers reject government plans to make maths optional
High school teachers reject government plans to make maths optional
A section of teachers reject the Ministry of Education’s proposal to make Mathematics an optional subject for senior Junior Secondary School students.
The teachers who had converged in Kajiado County during a mathematical contest strongly condemned the move, urging the Ministry to revert and make mathematics a compulsory subject.
In a bold move to reconstitute the Competency-Based Curriculum (CBC) for transition to Grade 10, one of the most radical changes the Ministry of Education introduced was the removal of Mathematics as a compulsory subject for students.
This was contrary to the 8-4-4 system, where mathematics was compulsory. The move elicited mixed reactions and a heated debate among stakeholders and teachers have joined the bandwagon.
Outlining the importance of the mathematics subject, the teachers revealed that the decision to make maths an optional subject was reached without proper stakeholder engagement.
”All those steaks in the Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) for example pure sciences, applied sciences, and technical studies all have aspects of mathematics, however, the designer from the Jogoo house saw it fit to only have maths in the STEM of pure sciences, which is just a flawed kind of reasoning,” Ignesious Simiyu, the founder of the Mathematics Competition argued.
According to the teachers, mathematics is an important subject that guides students and shapes their information on future courses to choose in the university and removing it would be a damning cost to students.
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”Mathematics is for industrialization, commercial use and daily use, its part and parcel of life and that is not negotiable,” David Kariuki, Mrishaw School principal revealed.
The teachers hailed mathematics for its ability to ignite and propel talents in creativity, innovation, and critical thinking, making it a very important and necessary subject.
The Maths contest that had brought students from over 20 schools across the country saw the winners travel to Dubai for an international contest in April before heading to the US.
In the grade 10 transition, the Ministry of Education listed English, Kiswahili/Kenya Sign Language, Community Service Learning, and Physical Education as the core subjects, regardless of their preferred pathways.
Depending on the pathway the students choose, they would have a chance to take mathematics or not. The move has so far elicited a heated debate in the country, with stakeholders, including engineers, contesting it.
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