By Kurian Musa
The Competency-Based Curriculum (CBC), now Competency-Based Education (CBE) was sold to Kenyans as a bold departure from the exam-driven culture that had defined our education system for decades. It promised to end the tyranny of ranking, reduce pressure on learners, and focus on skills, values, and individual growth.
For many parents and learners, that promise sounded like long-overdue reform.
Yet today, a quiet unease is spreading across homes and schools. It is captured in a simple but unsettling question: if CBE abolished ranking, why do learners now receive labels such as Exceeding Expectations (EE), Meeting Expectations (ME), Approaching Expectations (AE), and Below Expectations (BE)?
In principle, these descriptors are meant to reflect levels of competency, not competition. In practice, however, they feel eerily familiar. They read like grades. They sound hierarchical. And for anxious parents and impressionable learners, they carry the same emotional weight that marks and positions once did.
The contradiction is hard to ignore. We were told national examinations had been done away with, only for “assessments” to take their place. We were assured performance would not be ranked, yet outcomes are categorised in a way that inevitably invites comparison. We were promised reduced pressure, yet many learners now struggle with the stigma of being labelled “below expectations.”
This is not an argument against CBE as an idea. On paper, CBE is progressive. It recognises that intelligence is diverse. It values creativity, collaboration, and problem-solving. It allows learners to develop at different paces. These are strengths worth defending.
What doesn’t add up
The problem lies elsewhere: in how CBE has been communicated, interpreted, and operationalised.
For the ordinary parent, the distinction between an exam and an assessment is academic at best. What they see is a child being evaluated and placed into a category that appears to determine their standing. Without clear guidance, EE becomes “top,” BE becomes “bottom,” and ranking quietly returns through the back door.
Learners, too, are caught in this confusion. A system meant to build confidence risks undermining it when children internalise labels without understanding that competencies develop over time. Being told you are “below expectations” can easily sound like a verdict rather than feedback, especially in a culture long conditioned to equate academic performance with self-worth.
Teachers are placed in an equally difficult position. They are expected to implement a technically demanding assessment framework while also translating policy language into something parents can understand. Without consistent training and standardised interpretation, assessment outcomes vary widely from one school to another, further eroding confidence in the system.
At the policy level, mixed messaging has not helped. One cannot convincingly argue that ranking has been abolished while simultaneously introducing descriptors that appear ordered and consequential. If CBE is truly about individual progress, then the public deserves a clear explanation of how these outcomes are used, especially during transitions to junior secondary and beyond.
What is missing is sustained capacity building. CBE cannot succeed on policy documents alone. Parents need structured sensitisation to understand what the descriptors mean and, just as importantly, what they do not mean. Learners need to be taught to see assessment as feedback, not judgment. Teachers need ongoing professional development in assessment literacy and communication. Policy makers need to speak with clarity and consistency.
Reforms fail not only when they are poorly designed, but when they are poorly understood.
CBE still has an opportunity to fulfil its promise. But that will require honesty about the gaps, humility to listen to stakeholders, and deliberate investment in public understanding. Until then, the question will persist, growing louder with every assessment cycle: if this is not ranking, what exactly are we doing to our children?
Kenya’s education reforms must not just change systems. They must also carry the people along
-Mr Musa is a member of the Kisii Press Club.