Uhuru Abolishes Final Exams in Primary Schools

President Uhuru Kenyatta, on Friday, declared that pupils in Grade Six under the new curriculum will not be subjected to final exams, during the transition to secondary school.

The president was speaking during the Third National Competency-Based Curriculum (CBC) Conference held at the KICC.

"There will be no examinations in Standard Six, which shall ensure that we now have 100 per cent transition from primary through to secondary school," he declared.

The head of state also revealed that the task force formed by Education CS, George Magoha, had come up with recommendations stating that the lower secondary, which is Grade Seven, Eight and Nine should now be domiciled in the secondary schools.

The Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development had been pushing for Grade Seven and Eight teachers to be elevated because the primary school cycle would be shortened to six years.

The two classes will be dropped from primary school and incorporated to junior secondary school.

Under the new curriculum, primary and secondary schools will each have six classes.

The Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development wants primary school classes that will fall vacant in the new arrangement converted to junior high schools.

These include grades Seven, Eight and Nine, equivalent to classes Seven, Eight and Form One in the 8-4-4 system.

The CBC programme was launched in January 2019, and incorporates a 2-6-3-3-3 model, starting from nursery (two years), primary school (6 years), and three years each in lower secondary, upper secondary, and university.

The first batch of students to transition to secondary school under the new system will do so in 2024. These are Standard One pupils who enrolled in the programme this year.