The High Court on Thursday, June 20, dismissed a petition that had challenged the Ministry of Education's decision to transition from 8-4-4 to the 2-6-3-3-3 Competence Based Curriculum (CBC) education system.
The case was filed by former Law Society of Kenya President Nelson Havi in 2021 and was determined by a 3-judge bench.
"CBC Petition dismissed: no evidence to support any of the grounds relied upon and a lot of money has gone into implementation," Nelson Havi spoke moments after the ruling.
"Cabinet Secretary for Education to pursue amendment of Basic Education Act and enact Regulations to domicile CBC in 120 days."
The former LSK President revealed that he would not appeal the High Court ruling.
In their ruling, the three-judge bench comprising Hedwig Ongundi, Antony Mrima and Antony Ndung'u indicated that they held the view that the transition from 8-4-4 to CBC offered more benefits to learners.
"It is evident that the Competency-Based Curriculum has already been rolled out the teachers have undergone training, and the government has already set out finances for the implementation," the ruling read in part.
According to the High Court judges, granting Havi's prayers would cause havoc to the education system considering the scope of investment.
In the petition, Havi had prayed to the court to stop the implementation of the new curriculum terming it as unlawful and unconstitutional.
The court further indicated that should the education system be scrapped, it would also lead to the loss of jobs as thousands of teachers have been employed for Junior Secondary School which is a product of the CBC system.
It was further ruled that there was no proof of how pupils would benefit should the system they have been studying under for six years was scrapped.
The CBC curriculum was implemented in 2019 by the late Cabinet Secretary for Education George Magoha despite opposition from key education stakeholders.
