NAIROBI, Kenya, May 7 –President Uhuru Kenyatta on Friday gazetted the appointment of Prof Fatuma Chege as the Principal Secretary for the newly created State Department for the Implementation of Curriculum Reforms in the Ministry of Education.
This comes after the National Assembly approved her nomination on Tuesday.
Debate on Prof Chege’s nomination had earlier been shelved after a section of MPs opposed the creation of a new department in the ministry.
The MPs led by Minority Leaders John Mbadi and Junet Mohammed had argued that the creation of the department was not necessary because the current Principal Secretary in the State Department of Basic Education Dr Julius Jwan who was the Director of the Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development (KICD) is competent to implement curriculum reforms.
The MPs also argued that the current Chief Administrative Secretary Dr Sarah Ruto who before her appointment to the position was the KICD Chairperson has what it takes to implement competency-based curriculum.
When debate resumed on Tuesday, Education and Research Committee Chairperson Florence Mutua lobbied MPs to approve Chege to the position stating that failure to do so would jeopardize the implementation of the competency-based curriculum.
Prof Chege led the taskforce on the transition from the 8-4-4 to the 2-6-3-3 education system.
Under the 2-6-3-3 system introduced with the competency-based curriculum, learners will spend two years in pre-primary, six years in primary, three years in junior secondary, and another three years in senior secondary school.