An estimated total of 229,292 teachers gathered from both public and private learning institutions have undergone retooling aimed at equipping them with the necessary skills and knowledge to effectively implement the Competency-Based Education (CBE) framework.
As the government prepares for the transition of learners from junior secondary to senior secondary schools next year,
This development was highlighted during the National Dialogue on Education Quality and Learning Outcomes in Kericho, where it was also disclosed that 60,642 junior school teachers and 1,200 teacher training college tutors had completed rigorous training to ensure the successful roll-out of the new approach to education.
Speaking during the forum that brought together various stakeholders, Director of Education Mr. John Ongosi emphasized that the new curriculum mandates teachers to be ICT-compliant in order to effectively carry out tasks such as remote learning and live streaming of lessons, where both teachers and learners will engage using technology.
Additionally, he said the government plans to establish virtual laboratories to support Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) education when Junior Secondary School learners join Grade 10 in 2026.
Participants in the forum were enlightened on the new CBE guidelines which include selection, placement and admission of the learners to various categories of senior schools across the country.
Learners in grade 9 will be categorized according to personalized learning routes designed to accommodate individual student needs, strengths, pacing, and interests, rather than rigidly adhering to fixed age or grade-level standards.
Mr. Ongosi explained that senior school learners will have to specialize in one of three pathways which include Arts and Sports science, social sciences, and science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM).
The director of education assured that placement of grade 10 learners will be according to the learners’ choice, merit, psychometric test, equity and school capacity.
“There will be fairness for all learners; they will all have an opportunity to choose a pathway which can be triple pathway senior school which will specialize in STEM, arts and sports science, and social sciences. Then, there will also be double pathways in senior schools which will specialize in STEM, arts, and sports science.” Said Ongosi
The director of education further explained that senior school learners’ in grades 10 to 12 shall take 7 subjects; 4 are core subjects, which include English, Kiswahili, community service learning, and physical education; three shall be selected from the pathways and tracks of choice.
The stakeholders were also sensitised on the Competency-Based Assessment (CBA), which is a purposeful systematic, continuous process of gathering information from multiple sources for making decisions on what learners know, need to learn, have learnt, and can do.
Mr. Ongosi said the assessments use a wider variety of tools and give opportunities to learners, peers, teachers and parents to track the progress of the learner through real-time feedback mechanisms.
“The assessment methods and tools are varied in order to address the learning needs of different individual learners including tests, observation schedules, questions and answers, checklists, quizzes, rubrics, journals, portfolios, learner profiles, anecdotal records, oral or aural questions, questionnaires, rating scales and projects,” explained Ongosi.
Meanwhile, the Kericho County Director of Education, Mr. Julius Ngoneshi, confirmed that a total of 55 new classrooms for grade 9 learners had been completed and in use while an additional 160 classrooms were almost complete at 99 percent.
“Phase 3 of the construction has been allocated 21 classrooms; procurement has been done, and we are waiting for funding from the World Bank. However, in Phase 4, we are constructing 7 classrooms and we are at 50 percent to completion. In total we will have 323 new classrooms for junior secondary schools.” Added Mr. Ngoneshi
Ngoneshi assured that preparations are progressing smoothly to ensure the successful transition of Grade 9 learners to senior secondary schools next year noting that the Ministry also intends to construct 1,600 laboratories in senior schools to support the transition.
By Kibe Mburu and Kelox Mutai
