The Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development has reduced the number of subjects under the Competence-Based Curriculum in line with the recommendations by the Presidential Working Party on Education Reform (PWPER).
In a circular to regional, county and subcounty directors of Education dated December 20, Basic Education Permanent Secretary Belio Kipsang said KICD reached the decision in consultation with the Ministry of Education.
PWPER said learning areas under the CBC needed to be integrated to address gaps and content overload.
It said subjects in Pre-primary (PP1-PP2) should not exceed five, Lower Primary (Grade 1-3) should not exceed seven; Upper Primary (Grade 4-6) should not exceed eight; Junior School (Grade 7-9) should not exceed nine subjects and Senior School (Grade 10-12) should not exceed seven subjects.
Pre-Primary and Lower Primary
Kipsang said the number of learning areas in Pre-Primary will remain unchanged at five subjects with 25 lessons per week since they are consistent with the PWPER recommendations.
“The learning areas for Lower Primary have been reduced from the current nine to seven. The number of lessons to be reduced from 35 to 31 per week including Pastoral Programme of Instruction (PPI),” the PS said.
In effect, Hygiene and Nutrition Activities have been merged into Environmental Activities with four lessons per week while Creative Arts will now comprise Art, Craft, Music and Physical Education.
Upper Primary
Subjects in Upper Primary have been slashed from 10 to eight and number of lessons per week reduced from 40 to 35.
Agriculture and Home Science have been merged into a new subject called Agriculture and Nutrition and will have four lessons per week.
Creative Arts which will comprise Art & Craft and Music and Physical Education will be taught seven times a week while indigenous and foreign languages will be taught as non-formal (co-curricular) subjects.
Junior School
Kipsang said subjects in Junior School have been reduced from 14 to nine with all the nine being made core subjects and mandatory to be studied by all learners.
The number of lessons has been reduced from 40 to 35 per week including PPI.
“Integrated Science and Health Education have been integrated into one learning area referred as Integrated Science with five lessons per week,” the PS said.
Social Studies and Life Skills Education have been integrated into one subject referred to as Social Studies with four weekly lessons.
Agriculture has been combined with Home Science into Agriculture and Nutrition with four weekly lessons; Pre-technical Studies, Computer studies and Business studies have been integrated into Pre-technical studies with four lessons per week while Physical Education and Sports, Visual Arts and Performing Arts into Creative Arts and Sports with five weekly lessons.
“Indigenous and foreign languages to be implemented as non-formal programmes, these shall be non-examinable at Junior School,” Kipsang said.
“Designs and curriculum support materials shall be provided to schools to guide their implementation.”
Senior School
PS Kipsang said the rationalisation of learning areas in Senior School is still ongoing and the changes will be relayed to education directors as soon as the process is concluded.
The first cohort of Junior School learners is set to be admitted in January 2024 after they sat the inaugural Kenya Primary School Education Assessment (KPSEA).
A total of 1.2 million Grade 6 learners took the exam from November 28 to 30 alongside the last KCPE cohort.
KPSEA results are expected to be released in January although they will not determine whether or not learners proceed to the next level of education.
“Revised curriculum designs for the rationalised learning areas shall be available on the KICD website from January 2024 and will be distributed to schools in the course of the first term of 2024. Guidelines on Senior School shall be released during First Term, 2024,” Kipsang said.