The last Standard Eight candidates to sit the Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) examination will tackle the exam in 2019.
This is according to a National Basic Education Curriculum Framework (NBECF) implementation plan developed by the Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development (KICD).
The Ministry of Education launched a pilot program for the new education system that will replace the current 8-4-4.
The new system will replace the current Standard One to Form Four with Grade 1 to Grade 12.
Speaking during the launch, Education Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiangi indicated that a study would be carried out to test the feasibility and validity of the planned curriculum designs, teacher preparation and assessment models.
It is scheduled to be tried out in 10 schools at first in each of the 47 counties in Kenya based on elaborate criteria.
Matiang'i further emphasised that the purpose of the exercise was to determine the viability of the exercise on a national level.
“We want to keep an eye on the cost of implementing this curriculum so that we do not make a decision and later opt out because it is too expensive to implement,” he stated.
The new system will be categorised into three phases, Early Years Education covering nursery education to Grade 3, Middle School Education covering Grade 4 to Grade 9 and Senior School covering grades 10 to 12.
The system, which places emphasis on Continuous Assessment Tests (CATs) over one-off examinations, will then be rolled out in January 2018 and will be gradually rolled out in the next five years.
