New education system will not be expensive, Matiang’i assures

 Education Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i

The curriculum that the Government is preparing to roll out will not be expensive, Education Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i has said.

Dr Matiang’i said a team had been tasked to establish how much the national roll-out of the new curriculum will cost.

“We already have a task force in place doing that assignment and what I have seen so far is good progress,” he said.

Allayed fears

The CS allayed fears that the proposed curriculum would be expensive to implement.

“We will be taking decisions that we can live with and can be accommodated by our budget. What I want to assure Kenyans is that we shall be within budget and within what we can afford,” said Matiang’i.

He gave the assurance last week during the induction session of 470 primary school heads selected across the country to pilot the exercise.

He said the schools were scientifically selected to be representative of all the schools in the country.

A total of 10 schools – five pre-primary and another five primary schools – have been selected in every county.

In each county, he said, the schools were selected based on five criteria – rural public, rural private, urban private, urban public and special needs schools.

He said the findings of the pilot would inform the next stage of the process.

Matiang’i asked the school heads to give honest and truthful information on the trials of the new curriculum.

“I expect to draw a Cabinet paper, which I shall present for deliberations and the proposal shall be presented to Parliament for adoption ahead of 2018 national roll-out,” said Matiang’i.

The primary schools head teachers will be the instructional heads of the institutions.

This means that they hold the shared vision of effective instruction to facilitate learning and drive the school community towards meeting the individual needs and attaining success for every learner.

The heads will also provide an appropriate learning environment for the school community (learner, teacher and parent support) and ensure that content standards drive instruction.

They will also be expected to use classroom observation data to determine steps for instructional leadership practice and support teacher growth using ongoing feedback.

The teachers will also offer professional development and coaching.

In addition, the teachers will further identify and leverage the resources of time, money, technology, space, materials, expertise and partnerships innovatively and equitably for maximum benefit to all learners.

They will also creatively and proactively access additional resources that support strategic priorities, oversee talent management, professional growth and support systems.

Matiang’i announced that the teachers training curriculum would be reformed to respond to the 21 century demands.