President William Ruto will set up an education reform taskforce in the coming weeks to spearhead a review of the Competency Based Curriculum (CBC) that is being implemented in the country.
The President also promised to solve the double transition nightmare of the Standard Eight under the 8-4-4 system and Grade Six learners under the CBC to secondary schools in January.
Speaking during his inaugural speech as the fifth President of Kenya at the Moi International sports Centre Kasarani yesterday, Dr Ruto said there is robust discussion in the country especially on the implementation of the CBC.
“Public participation is critical in this matter, I will establish an education reform task force in the presidency which will be launched in the coming weeks,” announced Dr Ruto.
He added that the task force would collect views from all players in line with the constitutional demands of public participation.
“We are particularly alive to the anxieties of parents on the twin transition of the last 8-4-4 class and the first CBC class in January next year, I assure all that there will be a solution of the matter before then,” said the President.
There have been calls from a section of parents across the country for the new government to abolish the CBC and revert to the 8-4-4 system.
The parents have complained that the CBC is overloading learners and parents with a lot of assignments and expensive demands.
The CBC is now at Grade six and the Ministry of Education plans to roll out Grade Seven, the junior secondary class in January.
Grade six learners are set to transit to Grade 7 under the CBC are 1,268,830, while a further 1,243,637 Standard 8 learners are set join Form One.
In total, more than 2.5 million learners are expected to join secondary school next year.
Grade Six learners finalised selection of the secondary schools they want to join on Friday last week.
Education Cabinet Secretary George Magoha also announced that more than 10,000 new CBC classrooms in junior secondary across the country had been completed by Monday.
The government embarked on the construction of the classrooms in an effort to solve congestion of learners in secondary schools and to create space for the junior secondary learners.
Prof Magoha a week ago pleaded with the incoming government not to abolish the CBC, saying the move would affect millions of learners under the system from Pre-primary One to Grade Six.
In his manifesto, Dr Ruto said the education system in the country, should move in the direction of not just knowledge and exams, but should move in the direction of knowledge, skills, competencies and value based education
The Grade Six learners are expected to sit their final assessment on November 28-30 while those in Standard Eight will sit their Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) exams on November 28 to December 1.
During his speech on Monday when he met Dr Ruto at State House, former President Uhuru Kenyatta named the implementation of the CBC in the country as one of the milestones of his government.
Mr Kenyatta said the CBC has been able to instill key competencies and skills, preparing Kenyan children for regional and global competencies.
