Mainstreaming Core-Values in the Curriculum of East African Community Countries for Holistic and Sustainable Development: Challenges and Prospects

Abstract

This paper is premised on the concern that there is a value crisis in the education curriculum offered in Africa generally and the East African Community countries in particular. The paper had three main objectives, first to examine the status of education in the EAC region in terms of content and emerging challenges. Secondly, core-values in the draft harmonized curriculum for the EAC region were analysed by isolating critical learning gaps. Finally, a revitalized framework for mainstreaming core-values using a whole school was applied as an effective approach for nurturing core-values as well as career preparedness and attitudes. The study employed desk survey, document analysis and case-study approaches. The findings were that, first, the current status of the curriculum developed in most of the EAC countries stressed more on cognitive development through academic excellence and less on the nurturing of moral and career preparedness skills. Secondly, the challenges that besiege education in these countries gravitate around internal and external inefficiencies. Finally, it was evident that the draft harmonized curriculum for the EAC countries had not mainstreamed core-values and twenty first century learning skills in the subject content areas thereby being blamed for the current internal and external inefficiencies in educational institutions regionally. Based on these findings, it was concluded that there was adequate justification for mainstreaming both academic excellence and core-values in the curriculum for the EAC countries using whole school approach. In addition, for the region to attain sustainable development, researchers in the region need to set up research networks, solicit for research grants and undertake concerted measures to foster cooperation in education and training through joint valuebased research projects geared towards solving the multifarious and intertwined problems that beleaguer the education sector in the region.