Migori, Kenya – The Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development (KICD) Director, Charles Ong’ondo, has commended the Competency-Based Curriculum (CBC) for its significant role in enhancing environmental conservation through education. This endorsement came during a national tree planting exercise at Kendege Prisons in Kuria East Sub County, Migori.
According to Kenya News Agency, who represented Education Cabinet Secretary Ezekiel Machogu at the event, the CBC syllabus has been instrumental in embedding environmental conservation into the Kenyan education system. The curriculum, which covers all levels from pre-primary to secondary, includes comprehensive environmental aspects aimed at nurturing students’ understanding and involvement in activities like tree planting, forest conservation, and land reclamation.
“The CBC education system has incorporated all the environmental aspects into all the subjects,” Ong’ondo stated. He highlighted that the CBC also encourages parental engagement, allowing children to practice environmental conservation activities they observe in their daily lives.
During the event, Ong’ondo led the community in planting 9,000 trees at Kendege Prison and Kendege Technical Training Institute. He emphasized that CBC’s approach to integrating pertinent issues, including climate change, is crucial for the future.
Ong’ondo urged the county management and local administration to prioritize tree planting, aligning with Kenya’s national goal of planting 15 billion trees by 2023. Migori County Commissioner David Gitonga assured that tree planting efforts would continue in the county through the short rains, expected to last until December.
Migori County, currently experiencing consistent rainfall, is projected to receive short rains ranging from 456 to 655mm until the end of January 2024, as reported by the Migori Meteorological Service. Despite being one of the 10 counties with less than one per cent forest cover, against a national requirement of 10 per cent, local administrators have been encouraged to maintain tree nurseries to assist the public in tree planting initiatives.
Gitonga warned against illegal mining and grazing in designated tree areas around Kendege, stating that legal actions will be taken against violators. Migori Deputy Governor, Dr. Joseph Mahiri, reinforced the county’s commitment to ensuring the growth of planted trees. He mentioned that the county government had distributed 20,000 trees across all sub-counties to support the tree planting efforts.
The national tree planting exercise was simultaneously conducted across all 12 sub-counties of Migori, resulting in the planting of a total of 108,000 trees.