Arigatou International Geneva, under the request of the Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development (KICD), trained a group of 30 Curriculum Development Officers on the Learning To Live Together (LTLT) Programme. The training took place from 18 to 20 May 2015 at their institute in Nairobi, Kenya.
As the KICD is going in to a curriculum revision process, this was seen also as an opportunity to enhance the capacity, thinking and approaches of the Curriculum Development Officers from the Institute.
The workshop introduced the participants to the Ethics Education framework promoted by Arigatou International, reflected on the ethical challenges of LTLT in Kenya and it also helped to evaluate the possibility of including the Programme in the Kenyan curriculum at various levels including Early Childhood Development (ECD), Primary, Secondary, Vocational and Teacher Education.
The participants emphasized how relevant this experience was to them and how they could apply the concepts, values and approaches in their personal lives in addition to the professional work at KICD. They commented on the holistic package of resources offered through the LTLT Ethics Education Programme and also highlighted the interconnection between the different elements.
The participants had the opportunity to share ideas with experts at the panel discussion held during the workshop, titled “Context Analysis: Ethical Challenges of Learning to Live Together in Kenya”. One of the issues discussed was the impact of radicalization and violent extremism on education.
Moderated by Ms. Mary Kangathe from the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology (MoEST), the panel included Mr. Charles Mwaniki, Ministry of Education, Science and Technology; Ms. Saba Bokhari, UNESCO Regional Office for East Africa; Ms. Grace Maina, Officer in Charge of Cross-cutting Issues at KICD; Mr. Kiprotich Cheruiyot, Head of Prevention at The National Counter-Terrorism Centre under the Office of the President; Ms. Fauzia Ali, Executive Director of Women in International Security (WIIS) and Dr. Mustafa Ali, Director of Arigatou International Nairobi.
After very positive comments from the participants, KICD is in dialogue with Arigatou International Geneva and MoEST of Kenya on how further training can be offered to Curriculum Development Officers in the future.
Participants engaging in one of the activities.
“I want to thank Arigatou International for coming to train us; I also want to thank UNESCO and MoEST for walking with us in this journey. As we look on areas of specialization, lets always go back to the goals of education in this country. The curriculum developers are able to deal with this and lets see how we can apply this in the curriculum”, said Dr. Julius O. Jwan, Director of the institute.
Ms. Mercy Karogo, Senior Deputy Director Curriculum and Research Services, stressed on the importance of values and said that teachers should be facilitators and they should have something to help the sieve on what is right and wrong. “You can forget anything but if values are embedded in you, they will guide you through your life’’, she said.
Special thanks goes to the Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development for the invitation and to the panelists for having contributed to the reflections during the workshop.