The Ministry of Education had promised that the 8-4-4 system would be phased out and the new curriculum, 2-6-3-3-3 would be launched when schools open in January 2019. However, the Cabinet Secretary for Education, Amb. Amina Mohamed disappointed many when she hinted at the possibility of the curriculum not being rolled out as planned.
While many have been disappointed by this, the CS has assured Kenyans that pupils will not be affected by the postponement of the new curriculum.
Grade 1 and 2 pupils who were in the pilot project involving about 350 schools in Grade 3 will now be accommodated in the 8-4-4 system.
Appearing before the Senate Education Committee, Amina told said that pupils will not be affected because even those in Grade 3 will be absorbed in the current system.
Education PS Kipsang Belio, reiterated Amina’s argument saying that there should be no problem going back to the old system as the pupils were only in Grades 1 and 2 and not in Grade 3.
“Technically nobody is going to Grade 4 in this curriculum, we only have Class 1 and 2. So there should be no problem at all,” he said.
The Director of the Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development (KICD) Julius Jwan also backed up the Ministry’s argument and clarified that reverting to the old system should not have any problems as in the early years children only acquire basic literacy and numeracy skills.
“Why is there this perception that some people are moving from somewhere to another huge thing somewhere else which is not the case? I mean competence-based curriculum is just teachers supplying their pedagogy differently. It is nothing like moving from here to somewhere else,” he told he committee.
An initial assessment of the pilot by KICD and The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) revealed positive progress in the pilot phase of the curriculum.
According to the early assessment report by KICD, the quality of competency-based curriculum (CBC) implementation stood at 56%. Teacher assessment feedback based on learners’ achievement stands at 50% while quality of the learning environment and support for the CBC was at 62%.
So one would ask, then why the postponement of the curriculum?
Well according to the Education CS, the problem is in the implementation of the curriculum.
“We are not ready to roll out the programme throughout the country. The worst that can happen is to roll out what we are not comfortable with. The design is fantastic, but the devil is in the details of implementation,” Amina told the Senate committee.
However, some people have argued that the collapse if the new curriculum is as a result of budget constraints, lack of multi-agency cooperation and poor public awareness during the pilot period.
The implementing agency, the Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development in 2017-18 received about Ksh. 900 million budget as part of the funds for the implementation of the curriculum.
Earlier reports also indicated that to fully implement the new system, the government required close to Ksh. 10 billion.
What do you think is the reason the new curriculum will not be rolled out as per plan?