Kwale County Director of Education (CDE) Jane Njogu says 21 education officers in the region have been fully trained for the new Competency Based Curriculum (CBC) that is set to replace the 8-4-4 system.
Njogu also revealed that 14 curriculum support officers have been trained on the new curriculum that seeks to address the disconnect between the education content and requirements in the job market.
She said the education officers will in turn train the more than 1000 teachers during the August and December school holidays.
She said CBC will progressively replace the old summative based curriculum that has been in existence since 1985 and will ensure holistic development of children.
The director said Kenyans need to support the implementation of the new curriculum saying Unesco requires a curriculum to be reviewed every five years.
“Curriculum for schools should be reviewed every five years and this means as a country we are late in that respect,” she said.
Njogu was speaking when she presented a CBC progress report to the County Development Implementation and Coordination Committee (CDICC) meeting chaired by County Commissioner Karuku Ngumo.
She told departmental heads that the aim of the new system was to guarantee that children demonstrated applicable ability, knowledge and competence in reading, creativity and numeracy at an early age.
“We want the young learners to manipulate their own environment and find simple solutions to problems that confront their surroundings and the society,” she said.
The director said in the new education system classes are now referred to as grades, subject areas as learning areas, syllabus as designs, topics as strands and learning resources instead of teaching aids among other new terminologies.
“For example examinations are now referred to as competence based assessment where students or schools do not compete against each other as is the case with 8-4-4 system,” she said.
Njogu said the competency based curriculum would shift the focus from merely passing examinations to the practical acquisition of skills.
She said the new 2-6-3-3-3 curriculum through gradual implementation will completely replace the 8-4-4 system by 2028.
On the digital learning programme, the director said the region has received more than 22,000 learner digital devices, 353 teacher digital devices and 353 routers spread in 353 public primary schools.
By Hussein Abdullahi
