“Step up, get involved”: Kenyan Archbishop Urges Parents to Reclaim Role in Education amid New Curriculum Concerns

Nairobi, 22 July, 2025 / 8:03 PM

Archbishop Anthony Muheria of Kenya’s Catholic Archdiocese of Nyeri has challenged parents in the East African nation to take an active role in the education of their children and to reclaim their God-given role in their upbringing and formation.

In an audio recording The Catholic Mirror, a publication of the Kenya Conference of Catholic Bishops (KCCB) published on Sunday, July 20, Archbishop Muheria cited the growing concerns about the direction and clarity of the country’s new competency-based curriculum (CBC).

He lamented that in Kenya, “education has become completely confused, we don’t know what’s happening.”

“That’s why we are urging all parents to step up and get involved in education matters. Ask questions,” he said, warning that the CBC system, currently guiding learners entering Grade 10 remains a point of concern as most parents still do not know how their children are supposed to choose schools or how they are supported.

The leaners, he said, are told to make choices without parental guidance. “The government doesn’t seem to have a clear plan on how this education system will progress,” said the Archbishop in the video, emphasizing the need for parents to “ask questions” even if they “don’t know what’s going on.”

The KCCB member wondered why the government was taking long to issue a clear path on the sensitive issue of learners’ transition and syllabuses to follow from grade 10 onwards, saying, “There’s no clarity on syllabus for Grades 10, 11, 12...It appears they are waiting until the last minute.”

“Kenyans, we cannot afford to lose our children who may reach university level but, when they go abroad, no one understands what they studied because the system lacked planning,” said the 62-year-old Archbishop, who also serves as the Vice Chairman of the KCCB.

To restore the integrity, transparency and clarity to the education system, Archbishop Muheria proposed a “national education committee.”

“We must ask questions, demand clarity from the government, and request for a committee that will transparently lay out what is happening in our schools,” he said, emphasizing the need for the church to intervene.

He said, “Let us not allow our children to drift aimlessly, simply waiting to be directed here or there without receiving true guidance or meaningful skill development. We cannot even advise them, for we ourselves do not fully understand what is going on.”

“Education should be transparent to all,” he stated, adding, “the details of what is happening should be clear, including capitation (government funding for schools) not secretive.”

In the July 20 audio recording, the Kenyan Catholic Church leader, who started his Episcopal Ministry in Kenya’s Catholic Diocese of Embu in June 2003, urged parents to participate in the formation of their children.

 “Take responsibility for raising your child and guiding them to Christ, just like Mother Mary and Saint Joseph did,” he said calling on them to ensure their children “study religion and catechism that they receive First Communion, then Confirmation, and continue their religious education so they mature in the ways of the Lord.”

He encouraged parents and guardians to request “teachers and school boards to allow our children to be taught religion and catechism, because it seems academics have taken over completely.

“When we say let our children be taught religion, there are those in the government and schools who oppose it,” he noted, urging parents also to use their respective associations to appeal for adequate time allocation for religious education.

The Kenyan member of Opus Dei observed that it would be discouraging to end up with “people who are highly educated but turn out to be terrorists or criminals.

“If we teach them religion, speak to them, and guide them in God’s ways, if we ask the church to get involved. If there are both women and men Religious, they too can help and collaborate in this work, to have Priests present in schools not just for Mass, but also for instruction, then perhaps we will instill good morals in our children,” Archbishop Muheria said.