The Kenya Union of Primary Education Teachers welcomed the new system but stated that it requires additional resources and teaching staff/FILE
NAIROBI, Kenya, Feb 1 – Education stakeholders have urged the government not to hastily implement the newly approved education system which will replace 8-4-4.
The Kenya Union of Primary Education Teachers (KUPPET) welcomed the new system but stated that it requires additional resources and teaching staff.
The Union’s Kisumu Secretary Zablon Awange proposed that the pilot program should start from either Early Childhood Education or class one just like laptops project.
“As KUPPET we welcome the idea of a new curriculum, the new system of education, 2-6-6-3 that was spearheaded by professor Odhiambo,” he said.
“However, as a union, we are urging the government through the Ministry not to be in a hurry to implement the system. The system implementation should start from either class one or the ECD, that is at the baby class, middle and final.”
He further stated that the new system should not face the same challenges that were met by 8.4.4 system when it was implemented in 1985.
“So we are saying that so far, in terms of human resource, there is still a shortage of teachers in both the Primary and Secondary school and the new system will demand a lot of teachers in post primary,” he explained. “The government should put in place mechanisms for employing these teachers and improving infrastructure.”
The new system which has already been endorsed by education stakeholders will put emphasis on continuous assessment test rather than one-off final year exams.
If adapted, it means that children will spend two years in pre-primary, six years in primary school and three years in junior secondary and three in senior secondary.
The report stated that the education curriculum ought to be reformed to serve societal, personal, economic and technological needs.
Syllabus development, teacher training and development of curriculum support material will be the next stages ahead of the national implementation.
The various stages of measuring progress will no longer be called ‘classes’ or ‘standards’; instead, they will be called ‘grades’.
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