Grade 10 learners are participating in the Kenya National Drama and Film Festival for the first time ever in Kenya, with their work contributing directly to assessment and learner portfolios under the Competency-Based Education (CBE).
Speaking at Kagumo Teachers Training College in Nyeri during the opening ceremony of the 64th Kenya National Drama and Film Festival (KNDFF), the Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development (KICD) CEO Prof. Charles Ong’ondo stated that this year’s students will be used to set the benchmark for the next cohort in the coming years.
“This is the first year we have Grade 10 learners participating in this festival. We are very happy that they are now part of this stage, and some of them are doing well, either in solos or in group items,” he said on Tuesday, April 7.
“Grade 10 learners are specializing in various pathways. Some are participating in theatre and film not just as a co curricular activity, but as a learning area in which they will be assessed, and in which what they do here will form part of their portfolio,” Ong’ondo added.
The guest of honour, Education Director General Dr. Elyas Abdi Jillaow, concurred, stating that through the lens of Competency-Based Education (CBE), the festival cultivates essential 21st-century skills, critical thinking, communication, collaboration, creativity, and problem-solving, indispensable to all learners.
He thus cautioned schools from barring senior school learners from the festival. Dr Elyas, who represented the Education CS Julius Ogamba added that regardless of their academic pathway, including STEM, all students are entitled to participate in co-curricular activities such as drama and film.
“In CBE, if somebody is doing STEM, that does not mean we have banned the student from playing football or volleyball, or from coming and performing on a stage. All students, whatever the pathway, are supposed to take part in co-curricular activities,” Dr. Elyas Abdi Jillaow, OGW, said.
KICD CEO Dr. Ong’ondo had also made the clarion call earlier on stating, ”For senior school Competency-Based Education learners, you are allowed to participate in co curricular activities, regardless of your pathways. Do not tell learners who are doing STEM that they are not eligible to participate in the Kenya National Drama and Film Festival or even the Music Festival. Drama and film remain co curricular activities. Please let all our learners participate regardless of their pathways.”
More than 120,000 learners from pre primary to university, including special needs institutions and TVETs, are participating in this edition, cementing KNDFF as the largest performing arts festival in Sub Saharan Africa.
This year’s theme is: Digital Stages: Driving Kenya’s Development Through Theatre and Film with a sub-theme Leveraging Technology to Make Banking a Lifestyle – From a place you go to something you do courtesy of Equity Bank; the festival’s main sponsors.
While reacting to the themes, KNDFF Chairperson Professor Christopher Joseph Odhiambo said they serve as a guiding framework, giving schools flexibility to interpret them creatively. Odhiambo thus cautioned scriptwriters against misinterpreting the themes to serve selfish agendas.
“This theme is quite broad, and each of our schools is allowed to ‘cut a slice’ of it and treat it in their own way. The National Drama Festival, the Ministry of Education, and the government do not decide the topic for any school. We give schools and their teachers the privilege to choose the slice they can handle. Our job is not to prescribe; our job is to describe.”
“What we are interested in is a work of art that creates awareness about the social, economic, and development issues facing this country. Ours is edutainment: we privilege education and entertainment as a way of delivering the curriculum and the national values of this country. Our mandate is to help the Kenyan child develop talents and skills, so they have something to live on.”
Equity Bank’s Head of Education, Peter Ndoro, added that technology is transforming access to financial services and shaping how young people build their future.
“We believe that technology is a powerful equalizer. It is transforming how individuals access financial services, how institutions operate, and how young people imagine and build their future. Banking is no longer confined to a physical branch. It is available anytime, anywhere through a mobile phone or digital platform.”
