The Jubilee government’s implementation of 100% form one transition, seems to have worked effectively. Form One admissions this year hit record levels, while the distribution of textbooks to primary schools has improved, the Ministry of Education has said. Out of 1,017,512 pupils who sat last year’s Kenya Certificate of Primary Education examinations, 931,148 reported to Form One, according to the report presented to the National Education Committee chaired by Julius Melly (Tinderet). Basic Education PS Belio Kipsang, who made the presentation on behalf of outgoing CS Amina Mohammed, said this was the highest Form One admission rate the country had achieved. He said the overall Form One admission stood at 93 per cent. The rate in the previous years, he said, had been below 80 per cent.
A 24-page report tabled in Parliament last week by the Education ministry cites implementation of Competency Based Curriculum (CBC), textbooks’ distribution to schools, Form One
Also targeted were those who failed to join secondary school due to fees constraints. The campaign was conducted by teams from the Ministry of Interior and Coordination of National Government, Ministry of Education, NGOs and teachers’ unions, among others. Kipsang told MPs 36 million textbooks had been distributed so far. Some 22.4 million of them, he said, were for core subjects, while 13.6 million were for optional ones.
Core subjects include mathematics, chemistry, English, Biology, Physics and Kiswahili. The optional subjects are History and Government, Geography, CRE, IRE, Agriculture, Business Studies, Home science, Art and Design, Computer, French, German, Arabic, Kenya Sign Language and Music.
The report showed the 1:1 student to book ratio had been achieved and dismissed reports that excess books had been supplied to schools.The PS said before the roll-out, the curriculum designs for early years of education had been distributed to the schools and more than 186,000 teachers trained.