If adopted, learners will spend shorter time in primary and longer in secondary which is the complete opposite of the 8-4-4 system/FILE
NAIROBI, Kenya, Mar 29 – Over 500 curriculum development experts will converge in Nairobi on Wednesday to discuss a new curriculum system expected to replace the 8-4-4 education system.
The experts will review a proposal in which the Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development (KISD) is seeking to introduce the 2-6-3-3-3 system to replace the current 8-4-4 system.
During the conference that will be held at the Kenyatta International Conference Centre, the experts will deliberate on the proposals of the task-force established in 2012 to review the 8-4-4 system that is deemed unfit for learners to adapt to the fast changing job and career environment.
If adopted, learners will spend shorter time in primary and longer in secondary which is the complete opposite of the 8-4-4 system.
The task force recommends 14 years of basic education in which learners will spend two years in pre-primary level, six years in lower and upper primary and six years in junior and senior secondary.
They will then go for higher education for three years in which learners will take a minimum of two years of middle level colleges and three years minimum university education.
The first 14 years regarded as basic will be free and compulsory.
The new system is intended to equip learners with competencies and skills to meet the human resource aspirations of Vision 2030.
It shifts ‘from a subject-based system to a competence-based curriculum’ and ‘provides the opportunity to set standards against which learners will be assessed taking into consideration the individual interests, abilities and talents’.
It further focuses on offering learners with a choice of subject pathways at the end of the elementary school phase such that there is an assurance of attainment of 100 percent transition rate from primary to secondary school.
The change of the system incorporates ‘early identification and nurturing of talent in learners at the end of the junior secondary phase.’
The 2-6-3-3-3 system is intended to overcome challenges experienced in the 8-4-4 system in which after eight years in primary and four years of secondary level, learners have to sit mandatory national examinations to determine their progression.
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