Expect no written tests as Grade 3 pupils get assessed

Kakamega Primary Grade Three pupils prepare to clean the market in a community service exercise as part of the Competence-Based Curriculum. Left, Kakamega Primary Grade Three teacher Roslyne Sumba in class with pupils. [Robert Kiplagat, Standard]

Grade Three pupils studying the new competency-based curriculum (CBC) will be assessed for the first time today.

At least 1.3 million learners are set to start the assessment in schools countrywide. The assessment - the first under 2-6-3-3-3 system of education - ends on September 20.

A senior education official in Rift Valley yesterday told The Standard that learners would be assessed to establish the success of the first year of the implementation of the new education system.

“We are testing the learners' holistic skills, that is; interaction, problem-solving, observation and critical thinking. The examiners will administer an integrated test as part of the learning that will be assessed in the five days,” said John Ololtuaa, the region’s director of education.

The assessment combines subjects such as environmental activities, hygiene, nutrition and creative activities such as art and craft, Ann Mwangi, a teacher at Kagoto Primary School told The Standard yesterday.

According to Mwangi, learners will be required to demonstrate by either drawing, reciting or undertaking projects on the application of what they learned under each topic. Bondeni Primary headteacher Jacinta Kimani said there would be no written examination during monitoring of the CBC.

“Class teachers will be the examiners. The public seems not to be aware of the CBC. There are no written examinations, but just checking on the progress of the curriculum," she said.

In the past few weeks, Grade Three learners have been pouring out in the streets, villages and markets - working with improvised tools they made during practical activities.

Kimani said a learner's attitude towards certain activities would be among things to be assessed.

“This is expected to provide teachers with a more complete picture of what the learners know and what they can do with what they know,” she said.

Teachers conducting the assessment will then be required to send the school results to the Kenya National Examinations Council (Knec) for evaluation.

All inclusive

Teachers in some Nakuru schools said they had been engaging learners in respective topics expected under the CBC.

St Mary’s Girls Primary head teacher Damaris Achieng' said the CBC was teacher, pupil and parent-oriented.

Parents, she said, sign work done by a learner, who in turn presents the same to the subject's teacher.

"CBC brings parents on board, unlike in the past when teachers were left to handle everything," she said.

The CBC system involves two years of pre-primary education, three years of lower primary, three years of upper primary, three years of lower secondary, three years of senior high and three years in tertiary education.

Early this year, Knec announced that pupils would be subjected to a test called the Kenya Early Years Assessment.