More than 30,000 learners in the early years of pre-unit up to standard three are targeted in the exercise that will proceed up to the end of this academic term. [Photo/http://kbctv.co.e]
Teaching of the proposed curriculum in 470 schools countrywide selected for a pilot programme starts on Monday.
More than 30,000 learners in the early years of pre-unit up to standard three are targeted in the exercise that will proceed up to the end of this academic term.
Already 2,000 teachers have completed the second phase of training of the 2-6-3-3 education system that is set to replace the current 8-4-4 system.
Curriculum developers from the Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development and Ministry of Education officials, are in the counties to monitor the exercise.
The reforms in the education system will see learners examined through continues assessment as opposed to a single national examination.
“The system will focus on other abilities of the learners and not just drilling them to pass exams,”Peter Kega, KICD team leader for Turkana and West Pokot Counties told the teachers during training at Nasokol Girls’ High School.
Kega said Special Needs Education is also anchored in the Basic Education Framework (BECF), to cater for the needs of children with physical, hearing and visual impairment.
A report prepared after the class room sessions, will be used to fine tune the process to ensure it reflects the country’s national educational needs.
Phase one of the training was on the basic foundations of the curriculum to help the teachers selected to familiarize the teachers with the new system.
The second phase was more technical and the teachers were being taken through the nitty-gritty of the curriculum.
KICD director, Dr Julius Jwan said the trainings were successful and more teachers have shown interest in the proposed curriculum that is an improvement of the current one.
The third phase of the trainings, he said, will be an on-going process that will largely be one through online, to cater for teachers countrywide.
“It will entail online preparation of materials for the teachers to familiarize themselves with the content. We shall also introduce platforms for information sharing,” Dr Jwan said.
The National government is working with county governments, as key players in education to ensure the process is all inclusive.
Some of the education officials in the trainings are from the counties and they are required to be proactively involved in the evaluation of the program, to identify areas that need adjustments.
“We have officers from each of the counties participating in the trainings. We don’t want to leave anyone behind in this process because different experiences will finally give us a better idea,” Jwan said.