Tag Archives: Date for implementing the new curriculum

Breaking News

Piloting of the New Curriculum to continue for one more year, in 2019. Implementation pushed to 2020- CS Amina now says

Leave a comment

Education Cabinet Secretary, Dr Amina Mohammed, has rescinded her earlier decision to suspend  implementation the new Competency Based curriculum, CBC. Amina’s decision comes after Private schools protested her decision to put on hold the implementation of the new curriculum. Speaking to the media at the Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development (KICD) moments ago, the CS said piloting of the new curriculum will continue for one more year.

“The new curriculum pilot will continue for another (one) year. (We are) postponing the roll out for one more year to allow for alignment in the education sector and kick off in January 2020,” said Dr Amina after presiding over a National Steering Committee meeting at the KICD today. The Meeting was convened so as to provide a road map and the fate of the new curriculum implementation.

The CS who accompanied by the Ministry’s Principal Secretary and other Senior Ministry officials announced that the Ministry will establish a secretariat (within the ministry) to coordinate the priorities, activities and communication of the competency based curriculum.

Dr Amina said the Ministry will kick off training of quality assurance officers in February, 2019. “The directorate of quality assurance and standards will be tasked to vigorously track the implementation of the competency based curriculum in all sub counties across the country and the training of quality assurance officers that will commence in February, 2019,” Amina said.

Amina also announced that teachers will be intensively trained before the new Curriculum is fully implemented. “There will be a step up in intensive teacher training programmes across the country. The training of tutors for teacher training colleges will commence in January 2019,” the CS added.

Earlier, there were concerns over the unpreparedness of the teachers who are to implement the curriculum. Earlier, today, the Deputy President announced that the government was keen in ensuring the implementation of the new curriculum. The Deputy President was addressing Delegates during this year’s Kenya Union of Post Primary Education Teachers (KUPPET) Annual Delegates Conference at the KICC, in Nairobi.

Read also: Collated Africa Copa Coca Cola 2018 results

Latest Education News

Roll out of the new curriculum put on hold- CS Amina announces

Leave a comment

The new Curriculum will not be rolled out in January, 2019, as earlier indicated. This revelation was made today, Tuesday 11th December- 2018, by the Education Ministry’s Cabinet Secretary, Dr Amina Mohammed. According to Dr Amina enough preparations have not been put in place to allow the full implementation of the 2-6-6-3 Competency Based Curriculum, CBC, in term one of 2019. The Cabinet Secretary says extensive consultations between all stake holders have to be executed before the Curriculum is fully implemented. Of concern, also, is the unpreparedness of teachers who have not been adequately trained to implement the curriculum. Additionally, books for grades one to four have to be reviewed to ensure they have the right content for the learners.

“The curriculum is great, the design is great, but we need to ensure that that all the stakeholders are comfortable before the rollout is done and as per now, we are not ready. We will need to have a conference with all the stakeholders and agree on the rollout date because we want to ensure that everything is in place, the training of teachers, the infrastructure and of course making sure that the books are the right ones, ” Dr Amina said while appearing before the Senate Committee on Education, today.

The postponement comes even as learners in grade one to three have been using the new curriculum materials; with those in grade three expecting to move to grade four. But, Dr Amina has assured all learners that they will not be affected by the postponement. “Those (Learners) who were to move to Grade 4 and were under the pilot phase (of the new curriculum) will instead move to Standard three. But, it will not affect their progress,” Dr Amina assured. The Cabinet Secretary later launched the Girls’ Education Challenge (DFID- GEC) and  Leave No Girl Behind Project in Nairobi.  The project is aimed at providing opportunities for nearly three hundred thousand girls, mostly from marginalized areas,  in Kenya to access 12 years of quality education by 2030.

Education cabinet Minister, Dr amina Mohammed. The cabinet Secretary has announced tha rolling out of the New Competency Based Curriculum has been put on hold.
Education cabinet Minister, Dr Amina Mohammed. The cabinet Secretary has announced that rolling out of the New Competency Based Curriculum has been put on hold.

The CS indicated that a new date for roll out of the curriculum will be announced in future, once wide evaluations have been done. The decision to postpone the implementation of the new Curriculum, in January 2019, was informed by an internal evaluation on the curriculum by the Ministry.

According to CS Amina, the education sector is grappling with a high number of teachers’ shortage. The shortage which affects both primary and secondary schools has hampered service delivery in the sector. “We have a shortage of 34,000 and 87, 000 teachers in primary and secondary schools respectively, an issue that needs attention before the transition,” the CS added.

Latest Education News

CS Amina- Full press statement on the Status of the Competency Based Curriculum in 2019

Leave a comment

Below is the full press statement by the Education Ministry’s Cabinet Secretary (Dr. Amina Mohammed) on the status of the implementation of the New Competency Based Curriculum, CBC;

“This morning, the Multi-Sectoral National steering Committee met to review the current status of the Competency Based Curriculum (CBC) with a view to provide necessary direction for 2019.

The Committee reviewed the findings of the National External Evaluation, which was commissioned by the Cabinet Secretary following the release of the internal evaluation report concluded in June, 2018. The following key findings emanating from the two studies provided the context of the meeting:

  • A majority of the stakeholders are still optimistic about the capacity of the CBC to improve learning and teaching pedagogy in Kenyan schools.
  • The policy framework for the CBC framework was not adopted at the start of the pilot and currently remains in draft form.
  • There is inadequate alignment between the CBC formulation, teacher capacity development, selection and supply of learning materials and assessment. This has led to inadequate coordination and ad-hoc workshops in place of teacher training compounded by the absence of relevant CBC materials.
  • The Curriculum was poorly planned and hastily introduced in schools.
  • The process did not carefully consider resource constraints and was not given the necessary strategic interventions at the inception stage.
  • The role of the teacher in the curriculum design was marginal, leading to lack of by-in and comprehension of the structure by teachers.
  • The procedures for developing a learning programme are deemed complex, decreasing the quality of lesson plans and teacher interventions.
  • Assessment tools are unavailable in all the schools that were assessed.

Based on the observed gaps during the National pilot in 2018, the National steering committee has resolved as follows:

  • The CBC National Pilot be extended for one more year up-to grade 3 to allow alignment in implementation, particularly, intensive in-service teacher training.
  • The National roll-out will take place in January 2020.
  • We will finalize and launch the National Curriculum Policy Framework in January 2019.
  • We will present the Sessional Paper on Reforming Education and Training Sector in Kenya before Parliament in February 2019, when the Houses resume sessions. Once passed, it will ensure a new instructional paradigm in the Kenyan Education System.
  • We will launch the National Education Sector Strategic Plan for the period 2018-2022 in February, 2019.
  • A Secretariat will be established within the Ministry to coordinate the priorities, activities, communication and implementation infrastructure to support the CBC.
  • Coordination in the next two months must be done by all the stakeholders, together, to ensure consistency and concentration.
  • The Directorate of Quality Assurance and Standards be tasked to rigorously track the implementation of the CBC in all the Sub- Counties across the country. Training of Quality Assurance Officers for this purpose will commence in February, 2019.
  • The Curriculum focus at the Ministry of Education will be re-organized to secure supervision and evaluation of the CBC in all public, private and special needs institutions across the country.
  • We will step-up intensive teacher training programmes across the country. Training of Tutors for Teacher Training Colleges will commence in January, 2019, and will follow a College-based teacher training model.
  • A dedicated Fund for teacher training in the 2019/2020 and 2020/2021 financial years will be negotiated, set aside and ring-fenced.
  • Link Digital Literacy Programme to the CBC to secure comprehensive training on digital literacy as a key component of the CBC.
  • Develop an assessment framework with clearly spelt-out  competencies at every level. KICD (Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development) to provide crisp competencies to guide this process to allow the Kenya National Examinations Council (KNEC) develop and release the Assessment Framework.
  • The realities on the ground and aspirations for the CBC must be aligned.”
Amb. (Dr.) Amina Mohammed, EGH, CAV;
Cabinet Secretary, Ministry of Education.

Read also: Collated Copa Coca Cola results- 2018

Related content:

Piloting of the New Curriculum to continue for one more year, in 2019. Implementation pushed to 2020- CS Amina now says