NAIROBI, Kenya, Nov 22 – The National Treasury has availed to the Ministry of Education Sh4 billion, kickstarting phase one of the Competency-Based Curriculum (CBC) school infrastructure development programme.
The monies are expected to fund the construction of 6,500 classrooms in 6,371 secondary schools across the country.
An additional Sh1.2 billion from the Ministry of Education infrastructure fund will also be feared towards the programme.
The move is expected to address the classroom deficit in public secondary schools in turn facilitating a smooth transition of CBC grade 6 learners to junior secondary in January 2023.
President Uhuru Kenyatta had directed the National Treasury to vail Sh8 billion towards the construction of 10,000 classrooms in secondary school.
The programme will be implemented in two phases.
A must agency team comprising the Ministry of Education, Interior, and Coordination of National Government and other state agencies has already developed a road map of implementation of the project.
It is being implemented under the Kenya economic stimulus package, using local contractors within the vicinity of the secondary school to tap local skills and enhance economic opportunities.
“Contractors had by November 12, been registered with the deputy county commissioner of the respective sub-counties at no costs,” Education Cabinet Secreatary Prof. George Magoha said.
Local contractors will now bid for the construction of the classrooms in schools in the respective home counties as from November 22, 2021.
CBC Learning Structure
The 2-6-3-3-3 is tailored around seven core competencies that learners must have in one form or another have attained by the end of their learning.
They include communication and collaboration, critical thinking and problem solving, imagination and creativity, citizenship, digital literacy, learning to learn, and self-efficacy.
It further recommends that learners should join institutions of learning at the early stages in pre-primary 1 at the age of four before proceeding to Pre-primary 2.
The learner will then proceed to primary school which has been graded and divided into lower and upper primary.
Lower primary will commence at grades 1, 2, and 3 while upper primary will begin in grades 4,5, and 6.
At this point in time, the CBC has been rolled out to grade 5. Learners will join grade 6 next year (2022) before joining secondary school.
It is worth noting that before proceeding to secondary school, learners will undertake a summative assessment at grade 6 that will be worth 40 marks. This will be combined with the initial 20 marks awarded in the formative assessment in grades 4,5 and even 6 totaling 100 marks.
A criteria for the transition from primary to secondary school is currently being developed.
Secondary School will be divided into junior and senior secondary school.
Junior Secondary School will consist of grades 7,8, and 9 while Senior Secondary School will consist of grades 10,11 and 12 which will be rolled out in 2028 completely phasing out the old education system.
Learners will undertake a national assessment at the end of grade 9 which will determine their placement in senior secondary school, in turn following their preferred career pathways.
Learners will make choices from a range of disciplines organized in three pathways and nine tracks based on their abilities, interests and career choices.
The pathways include Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics(STEM), Social Sciences and Sports Science and Arts sciences. Each pathway has various subjects under it.
To fully master one’s skills/specialize, learners will then finally proceed to tertiary institutions (TVET, Colleges, or Universities) for a couple of years depending on one’s course before joining the job market.
Stakeholders have meanwhile called for a re-organization of structures and programmes in universities to ensure they adequately cater to learners pursuing STEM courses as well sports and the performing arts in line with CBC guidelines.
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