The education system in Kenya is undergoing a dramatic change for pupils which will begin to affect RRBF scholarships from January 2023.
The main changes are:
- Six years at secondary school
- Competence based curriculum (CBC)
- Option to specialise in Upper Secondary
- May need to change schools after three years
- Fee increases expected
For many years the system has been based on an 8 – 4 – 4 model, which has been eight years of primary school, four years of secondary and finally four years at university for those who go on.
The new CBC system will become 2 – 6 – 6 – 3, with two years of pre-primary, six years of primary and six years of secondary, and a further three years for those who go onto university or college.
Secondary school will be split between Lower and Upper Secondary, with children spending three years in each.
The new CBC system
At the same time, the school curriculum is also changing.
In Lower Primary pupils will cover:
- Literacy
- Language – Kiswahili, English, and tribal languages
- Maths
- Environment
- Hygiene and Nutrition
- Religious Education
- Movement and Creative Activities
As they progress to Upper Primary, pupils will add Home Science, Agriculture, Science & Technology, Physical Education, Social Studies and possibly another foreign language.
Then in Lower Secondary children will study a broad base of 12 core subjects:
|
|
Students will be able to choose 1 or 2 optional subjects from Visual Arts, Performing Arts, Home Science, Computer Science, Foreign Language, Sign Language and Tribal Languages.
In Upper Secondary students will specialise to pursue one of three pathways:
- Arts and Sports Science:
Sports
Performing Arts
Visual Arts
- Social Sciences:
Languages and Literature
Humanities and Business Studies
- Science Technology, Engineering and Mathematics
Pure Sciences
Applied Sciences
Technical and Engineering
Careers and Technology Studies
This could allow pupils to select subjects that they are better suited to rather than follow more traditionally ‘academic’ courses as they do now.
Schools will specialise in one or more track so we may see some students change schools from Lower Secondary to Upper Secondary.
Transition
These changes have already been introduced into primary schools so the first group of children studying under this system are now in Grade 6 this year, with the last year of children who studied to the old Class 8, moving on to secondary this year.
The changeover means that in 2023, secondary schools will therefore have three years of children studying under the old system as they complete Form 2, 3 and 4. While at the same time schools will have new students entering Grade 7 under the new system. The two systems will operate in tandem for three years, and there are many uncertainties around which schools will offer which pathways, whether they will remain boarding, and whether they will have sufficient resources to deliver this curriculum.
At the same time the emphasis will shift from an exam-based system to competency based, where teachers will assess pupils’ work across the year. This is completely new and will require a great degree of teacher training to ensure that it work can be assessed consistently.