No More KCPE? Magoha to Announce Final Directive

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Education Cabinet Secretary George Magoha assesses Grade 3 learning at Joy Town Special School in Thika in September 2019
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Education CS George Magoha is gearing up to give a final directive after the Curriculum Implementation Committee recommended him to scrap off the Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE).

A report by the Standard on Thursday, December 10, indicated that the committee had agreed to scrap the national exam and replace it with a grade nine option.

The committee, during a retreat that ended on Tuesday, December 8, in Naivasha, concluded that no national examinations should be offered at the end of Grade Six.

The proposal further indicated that the Grade Nine national exams, which will be at the end of junior secondary school, will be used to place the students in senior secondary schools.

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CS Education Prof George Magoha takes part in the groundbreaking ceremony of the Ksh 100million Eluid Kipchoge Library at Kapsisiywa Primary School in Nandi County on September 16, 2020
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The committee also suggested that national assessments should be carried in Grades Four, Six, Nine and 12 instead.

The new assessments, especially the Grade Six version, will be used to gauge the students' understanding under the new Competency-Based Curriculum (CBC).

The Grade 12 exams, on the other hand, will be used to place the students in various universities and colleges across the country.

Under the CBC, learners are expected to spend two years in pre-primary, six in primary, three in junior secondary and another three in senior secondary school.

The new development comes even as the state grapples with the question of how students will be allocated in secondary schools after Grade Six exams are scrapped.

On Friday, December 4, the committee was instructed by Magoha to draw criteria that will be used to post children in secondary schools.

The CS had also made it clear that he needed a transition roadmap of how secondary will be split into junior and senior secondary.

Prior to the pandemic, the new education system that was rolled out by the Ministry of Education mandated a 17-year-stay in school as opposed to the 8-4-4 system which totaled 16 years.

The committee was formed to address the challenges faced by the Education Ministry in scrapping off KCPE.

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Education CS George Magoha assesses Langas Primary School in Eldoret, Uasin Gishu County on Friday, November 6, 2020
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