UNDERSTANDING THE NEW CBC CURRICULUM

NEW KENYA EDUCATION SYSTEM CBC

Competency based curriculum CBC is set to replace 8-4-4 education systems in Kenya.

It was introduced in 2017 when it was researched and developed by the Kenya institute of curriculum development KICD and it is steadily replacing 8-4-4 education cycle.

The 8-4-4 system as it suggests was meant 8 years in primary school which is now replaced with 6years

The CBC cycle takes leaners under its care with transition to reach their careers

Where have we come from? Where are we going?

The Kenya education started out with the system 7-4-2-3 a formal of education system, which was introduced by British colonial rule in 1963, which meant;7years in primary school,4years in junior secondary,2years in upper secondary school and 3years in university which was the minimum.

This system was also replace by 8-4-4 in 1985

8years in primary school, 4years in secondary school and 4 years in university education with is the minimum

The 8-4-4 system was now replaced with 2-6-3-3-3 system in 2017 this means, 3years in pre-primary education, 6years in primary education,3years in junior secondary education,3years in senior secondary education and 3years which is the minimum in university education

The CBC education cycle every learner shall transition through a minimum of 17levels and every level as a period of 1year

The KICD has grouped them into 4categories;

1. Early year education the pre-primary and lower primary
2. Middle school the upper primary and lower secondary
3. Senior school the upper secondary
4. Tertiary education the TVET and university  

What was used to be called subjects are now known as learning areas where topics are known as strands and the sub-topics are called sub-strands.

The early years of education [EYE] at this level bestows mastery of basic skills upon the learners, which consist of 2-sub categories pre-primary and lower primary.

Pre-primary is the entry that takes a period of 2years where a learner enters education system at the minimum age of 4years old.

The Pre-primary has first class which is called PP1 for pre-primary 1, which is followed by PP2 for pre-primary 2,this initially was called nursery.

Lower primary comes after pre-primary where learners enters the grade level which consist of grade 1,2 and 3

In order to proceed to Middle School, the Kenya national examination council [KNEC] will have learners sit an exam or rather assessment, this together with a combination of class-based assessment shall determine if a learner is fit to proceed to the next level.

The middle school also consist of to categories that is upper primary and lower secondary

Upper primary consist of 3categorie that is grade 4,5 and 6,at the end of grade 6 KNEC will do an assessment for it to determine the readiness for the lower secondary level

Under the lower secondary here the learners has 3 levels, grade 7,8 and 9 where at the end of grade 9 KNEC will have them sit for an assessment to see the readiness for the senior secondary

The learner reach senior school at this stage they start specializing based on their career choices, this career are categorized into, arts and sports sciences, social sciences and stem.

Based on the category the learner as decided they will transit in grade 10,11 and 12.Thereafter the learner based on their career choices will either attend a technical and vocational education and training [TVET], University or can engage in entrepreneurial business

If the learner chooses to join tertiary education and training where they will undergo a minimum of 3years.

Courtesy: Ministry of Education and KICD

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