New education curriculum to take effect in May

 
Education Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang'i PHOTO:COURTESY

The new education curriculum will be tested across 470 primary schools starting May 29.

This means the country is inching closer to a new education curriculum, as preparations for the trial phase kicks off this week.

The Standard has established heads of selected primary schools that will pilot the new system have been invited for a meeting this Thursday.

The meeting is aimed at sensitising the heads on instructional leadership that will enable them understand the supervision of the new curriculum during the trials.

The heads will be inducted on competence-based curriculum that lays less emphasis on summative cut-throat examinations that is the current practice.

Findings from the trials will inform any to the curriculum before the national roll out.

Education Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang'i said the pilot phase would be carefully done to ensure its success. "We are not in a hurry to make mistakes. We will cautiously and carefully do this with the full input from all the players to ensure we get it right," he said.

Matiang'i said curriculum reform is the work of all sector players. "That is why we have a multi-sectoral approach and Kenyans will only adopt it once they are sure it is a good one," said Dr Matiang'i.

The pilot roll-out document seen by The Standard says the trials would be undertaken in all the 47 counties. The Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development said a total of 10 schools; five pre-primary and five primary schools, have been selected in every county.

The schools were selected based on five-point criteria; rural public, rural private, urban private, urban public and special needs schools.

"Selection of the schools was done by the county directors of education," reads the KICD document signed by its director, Jwan Julius.

The document explains that under the piloting phase, the Government is seeking to establish the adequacy of the content or the learning areas in promoting the attainment of core competencies among learners in the early years of education.

It will also help the Government assess the adequacy of the time allocated for the various learning areas. "The pilot will also help in assessing the adequacy of the teaching methods in promoting achievement of core competencies among learners," reads the document.

The document further explains that the pilot phase will evaluate the relevance of the instructional materials in promoting achievement of core competencies.