President Uhuru Kenyatta in a state of the nation address in Mombasa has requested the country to forgive after the state failed to roll out the new school curriculum.
The head of state has requested the nation to pardon his government for the failure to roll out the new curriculum which was supposed to be implemented in January 2019.
We want Kenyans to appreciate and understand that the competence based education we are pushing for is to prepare our children for the challenges and opportunities of tomorrow. We need our children to have the necessary skills for the job market~@Ukenyatta #PresidentRoundtableKe
— State House Kenya (@StateHouseKenya) December 28, 2018
The President has expressed the faults and unpreparedness of the relevant stakeholders to enable proper rolling out of the new curriculum.
CS Amina told the Senate Education committee chaired by Uasin Gishu senator Margaret Kamar that the new system, which has been piloted in select schools, has faced many challenges. They include lack of necessary infrastructure, enough properly trained teachers and required teaching materials.
“We are not ready to roll out the programme throughout the country. The worst that can happen is to roll out what we are not comfortable with. The design is fantastic, but the devil is in the details of implementation,” Amina told the committee.
Part of the infrastructures required for the overhaul includes phasing out of desks and replacing them with tables.
The suspended curriculum was meant to be more practical and involve less paperwork.
I want to personally apologize for the confusion that has been there concerning our new education curriculum. There have been many voices. We will sit and agree on one thing, the way forward. But for now, the curriculum will continue ~ President @UKenyatta#PresidentRoundtableKe
— State House Kenya (@StateHouseKenya) December 28, 2018
Despite calls by other stakeholders that the system be delayed until most of the infrastructure was in place, then Education CS Fred Matiang’i insisted on rolling it out.
The 2-6-6-3 system was to comprise two years of pre-school, six years of primary school, six years of high school, and three years of tertiary education. Classes are to be referred to as grades, rather than standards.
The inaugural students were to complete high school in 2027. In effect, 8-4-4 was to continue until the last batch sat Form 4 exams in 2026.