Uhuru’s Education Legacy Through The Eyes Of Prof. Magoha

NAIROBI, Kenya, Mar 29- President Uhuru Kenyatta’s second and final term is coming to an end, and like any other sector, he has initiated drastic changes in the Education sector.

Through the eyes of Education Cabinet Secretary Prof. George Magoha, this is the President’s legacy, as he exits the State House.

Magoha detailed what he termed as achievements during the release of the Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) on Monday, in Nairobi.

–New Curriculum –

Notably among the milestones made under President Kenyatta is the transition from the 8.4.4 to the Competency-Based Curriculum (CBC).

A bumpy transition, one he says, has been steady and successful.

“As a Government, we have done everything possible to midwife the transition from the 8-4-4 to the CBC. So far, the CBC has successfully been implemented up to Grade Five,” he said.

So far, the CBC has successfully been implemented up to Grade Five.

Next month, the pioneers will join Grade Six and sit their first national assessment later this year.

“I wish to assure the country that all curriculum materials for Grade Six have been prepared and distributed to Schools,” the Education Cabinet Secretary said.

Already, he said that all relevant teachers have been trained and are prepared for the Grade Six rollout, and many more will be trained next month for the Junior Secondary school that starts in 2023.

Ahead of the start of the Junior Secondary School next year, the Ministry has already constructed 6,497 new classrooms to accommodate the CBC pioneer class under the first phase.

The Government spent Sh5.123 Billion on building the classes.

“We also intend to start phase two of constructing 3,503 classrooms as soon as we complete the marking of the KCSE Examination,” he said.

“We hope to complete the construction of all the 10,000 classrooms, as directed by H.E. the President, by the time I leave office.  All these preparations make me extremely comfortable that my successor will find a good script to follow in the CBC implementation.”

Competency-Based Assessment

The CS said the first Grade Six national assessment is set to be administered in December 2022.

It is expected that this national assessment will account for 40 percent of the candidate’s final mark while the remaining 60 percent will come from the classroom teacher scores drawn from the school-based assessments in Grade Four, Five and Six.

Education expert has termed this as a revolutionary move in the education sector, that will ensure a student is not merely tested on his education prowess alone.

This new testing is expected to emphasize both formative and summative assessments, which the government hope will heavily reduce the cut-throat competition that was witnessed under the 8-4-4 curriculum and heavily reduce the incentives for examinations cheating.

“I also wish to assure my successor that I have ensured that the Grade Six national assessment is ready and all that he or she will need is simply to oversee its administration. I wish the next Government to ensure the security of the examinations process is sustained,” the CS, who kept on attributing the gains to the President said.

The Ministry of Education will administer its last KCPE and KCSE for the 2022 academic calendar in December.

Already, the said examinations have since been set, and are “in safe custody for the incoming government to administer.”

The administration of the December 2022 examinations will effectively mark the end of the re-arranged academic calendar that was forced upon us by the disruptions of COVID-19, occasioning the prolonged closure in 2020.

Beginning January 2023, Kenya will go back to its traditional academic calendar that starts in January and ends in November of each year.

“I thank all stakeholders who have given us all the support in negotiating this difficult period, especially teachers who have had to work extra hard to ensure learners covered the syllabus within the short timelines,” he said.

“Most importantly, I thank President Uhuru Kenyatta for offering the Ministry all the support in carrying out the broad reforms that have led to stability and progress in the education sector. No one can gainsay the fact that when the history of this country is written, President Kenyatta’s contribution to the education sector will comprise a myriad of chapters.”

–Multi-Agency Examination Administration Team–

For the last 6 years, the government has initiated drastic reforms, to curb rampant cheating during national exams.

Such reforms, Magoha said was through the multi-agency approach, that was started by the President.

With it, administering and overseeing of exams stopped being a Ministry of Education affair and more stakeholders were brought in, to among other things protect its integrity.

“The Ministries of Interior and National Coordination of Government, ICT, TSC have tirelessly worked with the Ministry of Education to run the national examinations with utmost professionalism and competency,” the CS said.

“We must not forget our departed brother and former Interior and Coordination of National Government CS Joseph Ole Nkaissery under whose tenure the examinations reforms started.”

-The 100 Percent Transition to Form One–

The President has also ver the years overseen a nearly 100 percent transition of students from primary to secondary school.

Magoha said in line with the Government’s 100 percent transition policy, all the 1,214,031 candidates whose results were released on Monday, will be admitted to secondary schools.

Already, he said the Ministry has put in place measures to ensure the selection exercise is conducted the soonest as possible to ensure, “the candidates join Form One soon given that the next academic calendar is heavily shortened.”

-The Elimu Scholarship–

He said the President has also been offering scholarships under Elimu Scholarship Programme, for the last two years.

The programme targets the less fortunate in the slums and semi-arid areas.

So far, two cohorts of 9,000 beneficiaries each, have been identified from the vulnerable and needy children who sat for their KCPE in the years 2020 and 2021.

The Elimu programme offers its beneficiaries a fully paid scholarship for four years.

“The beneficiaries of the scholarships could not have gone to the best national schools without the support of the Elimu Scholarships. I wish to appeal to the H.E. the President to provide money this year to cover the 9,000 scholarships under the Elimu Scholarship Programme to support our needy children,” he said.

–Examination Irregularities–

He said the government security arrangements through the Multi-Sectoral Examinations Monitoring Team have helped to curb cheating in national examinations.

“In the 2021 KCPE, these measures ensured that cases of irregularities were prevented. During the marking, however, KNEC established that  320 candidates in seven (7) examination centres colluded during the administration of the 2021 KCPE examination. These candidates will be awarded a mark of zero (0) in the affected subjects,” he said.