All is set for the implementation of the 2-6-3-3 education system in January after the final induction of teachers.It will be rolled out in the country’s 28,000 primary schools, according to Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development director Julius Jwan.More than 160,000 teachers handling early years education — pre-primary 1 to 2 and grade 1 to 3 — in public and private schools will undergo the training.

In a statement to newsrooms on Sunday, Dr Jwan said the training would focus on the competency-based curriculum, interpretation of the curriculum designs, special needs education and integration of ICT in teaching and learning.

IMPLEMENTATION

“We will induct teachers up to the closest time it can be to the implementation of the curriculum. If we decide to wait for another year, we shall just be going round in circles,” he said.Piloting of the system started in 470 schools in May. The piloting took place in nursery, Standard One, Two and Three following the training of more than 1,888 teachers.

Five pre-primary and five primary schools from every county participated in the piloting, which took between eight and 10 weeks.The first lot of 2,374 curriculum support officers, headteachers and teachers from the piloting schools were trained in two phases.

The officers were trained to interpret curriculum designs and how to develop schemes of work and lesson plans.
“They were taken through the basic education curriculum framework, which outlines the rationale for the reforms and the envisaged changes,” Dr Jwan added.

In the new education system, which stresses continuous assessment tests over summative evaluation, the number of subjects will be reduced to create room for identification and nurturing of talents, besides academic capabilities.

KEY SKILLS

It also seeks to equip learners with seven key skills: Communication and collaboration; self-efficacy; critical thinking and problem-solving; creativity and imagination; citizenship; digital literacy; and learning to learn.

Kenya Primary Schools Heads Association chairman Shem Ndolo yesterday said the programme should be rolled out in stages.

“We do not want it to be like 8-4-4 system, which was started in totality only to turn up to be a fiasco, not because it was a bad thing, but because of the manner it was started,” he said.

KICD is also working with county governments to facilitate the training of Early Childhood Development Education teachers.County directors of education in charge of ECDE met KICD representatives to strategise on how best the teachers who handle learners at formative age could be trained.

“We recognise ECDE is a devolved function. We have a duty to reach out to national and devolved governments and seal any loopholes that might derail this important exercise,” Dr Jwan said

Source: By KENNEDY KIMANTHI Nation Media Group

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