8-4-4 education system may be scrapped this week

A class in session at Nachurur primary school in Tiaty Sub County on January 15 2016. The school has only two permanent structures. PHOTO:KIPSANG JOSEPH

The Government will decide whether or not to scrap the 8-4-4 education system by Wednesday.

This will in effect seal the fate of Standard Eight and Form Four national examinations. 

A government proposal  to scrap Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) and the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) may be adopted at a review conference, effectively ushering in a new system that favours age-appropriate content delivery.

If adopted, 2018 may mark the last time the KCPE examinations are written in Kenya with the last KCSE cohort scheduled to sit the exam in 2021.

The proposals contained in a government document dubbed The Reforms Road Map were endorsed early this year by President Uhuru Kenyatta.

The recommendations are anchored on the 2011 Education Task Force report chaired Prof Douglas Odhiambo that proposed a new system of 2-6-6-3 be adopted.

This translates to two years in nursery, six years in primary, another six years at secondary, and at least three years at the university.

The six years in secondary will however be divided into junior and senior secondary education of three years each.

The implementation timelines seen by The Standard on Sunday reveals that the various stages of learning progress will no longer be called ‘classes’ or ‘standards’; instead, they will be called ‘grades’.

“Grades are used in cases where only age-appropriate learning is implemented,” reads the brief.  Under the age appropriate learning approach, children would only be taught content that is appropriate to their age.

The brief says ‘early years education’ will include nursery and Grade One to Grade Three. This will be implemented next year. This means that in 2018, Grade Four will transit to the new curriculum, as the current Class Six will move to Class Seven.

This will be the last time KCPE will be written as an examination, if the proposals are endorsed.

This is also the year the pioneer classes—current Standard Six and Class Seven—will transit to junior secondary school.

This means that in 2020, these students will sit the first junior secondary examination after three years of secondary education. And in 2021, the last KCSE examinations will be administered, ending three decades of the 8-4-4 systems.

The first secondary education examinations under the new system will be administered in 2023.

This means that the following year, the new crop will join university. About 500 delegates are expected to attend a critical stakeholders’ meeting to discuss the historic curriculum review.

Critical stakeholders

President Kenyatta is expected to attend the stakeholders meeting whose main task will  be to validate the key findings of the review team.

Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development (KICD) director Jwan Julius said the meeting will bring together critical education stakeholders. “We expect unions, civil society, sponsors and government officials at the conference,” said Julius.

Details of the implementation timelines indicate that a needs assessment report will  be tabled for discussion at the conference.

Further details on the review roadmap says that the current primary school curriculum is choked with too many subjects, leading to ‘non-mastery of foundational skills of literacy, numeracy and life skills.’

The document proposes that competency-based assessment should be introduced in schools where learners’ focus shall be on application of skills and knowledge in real life rather than knowing answers. “Assessment shall be tailored to find out whether learners have achieved the prescribed competencies but not necessarily to compare them with their colleagues,” reads the brief.

The document ‘The curriculum review framework: Transforming society through curriculum reforms’ reveals that once the reforms process is complete, primary school children would only be taught content that is appropriate to their age.

And career pathways will be introduced at secondary level in far-reaching changes that seek to de-emphasise national examinations. “The reforms aim at decongesting the primary level curriculum to create more time for more holistic development of the learners. The upper primary school level shall be designed to provide opportunity for self-exploration to start identifying potential,” reads the brief.

The brief further says the proposed reforms envision value equity, diversity, opportunity and excellence for all learners.

“If the curriculum is conceptualised and designed to nurture every learner’s potential this would not only make every learner engaged, but would also contribute to reduction of crime and the disengagement currently experienced among many youth in the country,” reads the brief.