Dr. Belio Kipsang, the Principal Secretary for Basic Education has said that all Grade 10 students will have to study Science and Maths as part of the ongoing curriculum reforms recommended by the Presidential Working Party on Education Reforms.
Grade 10 is the start of Senior School where students will have choice of three career paths: Arts and Sports Science, Social Sciences and Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM). According to Dr. Kipsang every school must have at least two of these pathways and STEM is compulsory for all institutions.
Infrastructure and Resource Mobilization
The government has mobilized resources to equip 1,600 schools with laboratories to support the STEM pathway. Dr. Kipsang said the investments will utilize existing resources in schools to support the new curriculum requirements. Consultations will be held at county level to gather public input as the transition to senior school progresses.
Stakeholder Reactions and Concerns
While the government is confident with the curriculum transition, various stakeholders have raised concerns. Teachers’ unions, KUPPET and TSC have urged for retraining of teachers before students transition to Grade 10.
KUPPET’s Paul Ngei said secondary school teachers should have been retooled earlier to align with Competency Based Curriculum (CBC). Knut Secretary General Collins Oyuu called on stakeholders to apply lessons learnt from Grades 1 to 9 to make the transition smoother.
Education expert Stephen Mudho said teachers should be exposed to the CBC framework before formal training. Boaz Waruku from Elimu Bora Working Group noted that there is need for increased investments in school infrastructure, teacher recruitment and improved working conditions to facilitate the transition.
Ongoing Public Consultations
The nationwide forums on CBC implementation launched on March 7 in Machakos will run for a week. This comes two months after the rollout of Grade 9 which faced challenges of inadequate classrooms and shortage of teachers.
Education Cabinet Secretary Julius Ogwang said the government will incorporate feedback from the forums to make the transition to Grade 10 smooth. He also asked schools to be patient as the remaining capitation funds are being disbursed.This will work if we fix the gaps. Teacher training and infrastructure.