The government has made a number of changes to the controversial Competency Based Curriculum (CBC) that is being rolled out in the country.
According to the State House Spokesperson Hussein Mohammed, the changes have been made following an interim report from the Presidential Working Party on Education Reforms.
The interim report was presented to President William Ruto on December 1, 2022.
One of the main changes that the government has introduced relates to where the junior secondary schools will be domiciled.
Junior secondary schools were to be domiciled both at primary and secondary schools. But in the latest order, the learners will remain in the current primary schools.
“Junior secondary schools Grade 7, Grade 8 and Grade 9 will be domiciled in existing primary schools. The Ministry of Education will provide necessary guidelines on how this will be done,” read part of the press release from the State House.
KPSEA fate
Further, the government has said the recently concluded Kenya Primary School Education Assessment (KPSEA) will not be the basis learners will be gauged on whether they will transition to Junior Secondary School or not.
“Instead, KPSEA will only be used as an assessment to monitor learning progress and provide feedback to education sector players on areas that require intervention,” the government said.
And as a way to ensure schools are ready to handle the latest changes, the government now says it will be building an additional classroom and laboratory in every primary school.
This is in addition to the 10,000 classrooms that the Jubilee governments build in readiness for the CBC transition.
However, the government has also asked Members of Parliament to work towards providing extra support for the extra facilities.
“Meanwhile, primary schools and neighbouring secondary schools will share the laboratories and other facilities with junior secondary schools,” the government said in the statement.
The State House Spokesperson has also revealed that the government will embark on recruiting 30,000 new teachers by January 2023. This is to facilitate the transition and bridge the current shortage of teachers.
A final report from the Presidential Working Party on Education Reforms is expected by the end of March 2023.
The latest directives by the government put to an end unanswered questions over the upcoming CBC transition.
When he took the oath of office as the fifth President in September 2022, Ruto had promised to give a way forward before the CBC transition happens.
