The government is planning to do away with the categorization of schools to accommodate the new Competency-Based Curriculum (CBC) philosophy.
This was revealed by Basic Education Principal Secretary (PS) Dr Belio Kipsang’ at the inaugural annual symposium on Competency-Based Assessment.
Under 8-4-4 system, secondary schools are categorized as national, extra-county, county and sub-county.
“We will soon convene a stakeholders engagement on the pathways and pathway placement in Senior School, and secondary schools will soon be categorized according to the pathways they will offer,” Kipsang’ said.
Secondary schools will now be renamed Senior School and it is where pupils from Junior Secondary Schools (JSS) will go to.
In the new categorization, senior schools will now be identified by the combination of subjects offered. This includes; Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM), Humanities and Arts, and Creative Arts and Sports.
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The classification will largely depend on the resources and infrastructural capacity of the academic institution. Therefore, the current national schools which have ample resources such as libraries, laboratories and social amenities are poised to provide a combination of the three strata.
Conversely, sub-county schools, constrained by resource limitations, are likely to offer only one combination of subjects.
Students will now go through three years in Senior School before advancing to university or college based on their interests and academic achievements.
The PS also revealed that the government will pull out police officers from examination centres, stating that this will allow young learners to be themselves and deliver to the best of their capacity during the assessments.
“This is the most opportune time to change how we administer assessments. I will be very surprised to see police officers in assessment rooms this year. It is time to let our children be children,” Kipsang’ said.
Kipsang’ assured that the new policy direction will take effect in this year’s national assessments.
Police are deployed to exam centres to support invigilators, provide security and avert any cases of disruption.
However, critics have in the past argued that their presence in exam rooms is intimidating to the candidates, saying only invigilators and supervisors should handle examination processes.
By Brian Ndigo
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