Education Cabinet Secretary Professor George Magoha is expected to give direction on the fate the Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) following an advice from the Curriculum Implementation Committee to scrap it off.
According to the Standard, the committee agreed on Tuesday, December 8 during a retreat in Naivasha to scrap the national exam and replace it with the Grade Nine national exams, which will be at the end of junior secondary school.
The committee further proposed that no national examinations should be administered at the end of Grade Six.
The publication further reported that the committee also agreed that the Grade Nine exams will be used to place students to senior high schools.
The proposal also indicated that national assessments should be carried in Grades Four, Six, Nine and 12 instead.
Under this version, the Grade Six assessment will only be used to gauge learner’s understanding of Competency-Based Curriculum (CBC).
Grade Nine assessment, which will be done after three years of secondary learning, will guide placement of students to the three pathways as envisioned in the CBC while Grade 12 examination will be used to place students to universities and colleges after six years of secondary education.
Under the new curriculum, 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 plan to introduce a new national test in high schools was made clear last year in Naivasha during a meeting between the Ministry of Education and National Assembly Education Committee.
However, the big questions raised is on the best criteria that would be used to place students to secondary schools if examinations are abolished.
According to reports, the committee have tasked the Kenya National Examinations Council (KNEC) to come up with the best way students will be placed to junior secondary schools.
Questions have also been raised on the committee’s proposal to have all Grade Six learners be transited to the neighbouring secondary schools for junior secondary education.
