The Kenyan Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) and the Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) could be scrapped off if a proposal by the Education Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang'i is approved.
The proposed changes contained in the Basic Education Curriculum Framework, will be debated by education stakeholders on January 30 at a national conference.
The two national examinations have in the past been used as the sole determinant of candidates who transition from the junior to tertiary academic levels.
In the proposed changes, KCPE will now be replaced by the Kenya Assessment Learners Achievement (KALA) and KCSE by the Kenya Certificate of Basic Education (KCBE).
The new system will concentrate on continually assessing students as opposed to the current system where learners spend eight years in primary school and four in secondary, preparing for a single final examination.
The reforms also include scrapping the 8-4-4 system with a new curriculum which reduces primary school studies to six years and increases secondary education from four to six years.
Under the new system, teachers will make regular assessment of their students with marks being compiled and then the final examination will account for only 30 per cent of a candidate's results, as opposed to the current system where the national examinations account for 100 per cent.
The assessment will involve administering written tasks that will be supervised by the Kenya National Examination Council (KNEC).
This is expected to help determine how children are performing in various subjects and assist the stakeholders including parents, take necessary steps in case any challenges are noticed.
