Students to take two main tests in new school system

Education CS Prof George Magoha with his PS Belio Kipsang and Nominated Senator Agnes Zani during a press conference on Competence Based Curriculum at Enashipai Resort in Naivasha. [File, Standard]

Pupils will sit two national examinations under the new education curriculum, Education Cabinet Secretary George Magoha has said.

Prof Magoha said that the government will administer national examinations at the end of grades nine and 12 of the Competency Based Curriculum (CBC).

Under the 2-6-3-3-3 education system, learners are expected to study for two years at pre-primary before proceeding to grade one to six (three years in lower primary and three in upper primary).

After this which they will transit to grades seven to nine (junior secondary school) before proceeding to grades 10 to 12 (senior secondary school).

They will then transit to university for another three years.

Primary examination

According to Magoha, a task force is yet to decide whether pupils will sit end of primary school examinations before proceeding to junior secondary school.

This will be decided by April next year.

“There are certain ambiguities and I want to correct them with finality. That as Government, we have decided that there will be an examination after Year Nine and after Year 12. The discourse of Year Six will be for the task force to advise us,” said Magoha.

The revelations emerged yesterday during a meeting between Education ministry officials and senators in Naivasha.

“Examinations are important and what we should be told is what percentage they shall constitute for the overall grade,” said nominated Senator Agnes Zani.

Ms Zani had sought to know why the ministry was shunning exams and asked for a roadmap on student assessment under the new curriculum. She said exams were critical as external assessment tools even as the ministry worked on continuous assessment.

Responding to questions from Zani, the CS said students will sit two examinations but called for patience on the fate of primary school tests currently administered as the Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) examinations.

Examination council

Kenya National Examination Council (Knec) Chief Executive Officer Mercy Karogo told senators that the council had developed ways of assessing learners under the new curriculum.

“The nature of the assessments will be known after the designs are completed but as a council we have developed tools that will be used by teachers to monitor the learning progress of each child,” she said. 

Students in Grade 12 will sit an examination to assist the Government in placing them in universities while a completely new examination will be introduced at the end of junior secondary school.

The examination will guide placement of students to the three pathways envisioned in the CBC.

The new curriculum requires that after junior secondary education, each student will chose what to pursue between three areas (or pathways): arts and sports science; social sciences; or science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

According to the Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development (KICD), each senior school will make informed decisions with regards to the pathway of choice based on the requisite infrastructure.

“Within the three pathways there are various tracks. Schools can also decide to offer one or more track in the pathway depending on the ability to acquire the infrastructure necessary for acquisition of the identified competencies,” states KICD in its report.

This means that while sitting the new examination, students will have to make choices based on the three pathways.