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The Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development (KICD) has accomplished the review of curriculum designs up to Grade 10 in line with the Presidential Working Party on Education Reforms (PWPER) recommendations.

KICD Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Prof Charles Ong’ondo said the curriculum designs are ready for approval by the council as required in law.

“The approval of the designs is expected to take place later this month,” affirmed Ong’ondo.
Ong’ondo made the remarks as he allayed fears over reviewed learning areas saying they were not scrapped off or done away with but were carefully and critically analyzed and KICD ensured that related strands and sub-strands were accommodated in one learning area.

Critical competencies

“KICD has ensured that critical competencies that learners are supposed to have are not lost but realized in the rationalised learning areas. There is no cause for alarm as the process has not watered down the quality of CBC,” said Ong’ondo.

The CEO also assured that CBC was dynamic curriculum for the global world, which intends to expose learners to the changing demands in the job market.

“KICD takes cognizance of the vision and mission of the CBC, which are to nurture every learner’s potential and have engaged, empowered and ethical citizens in the 21st century,” affirmed Prof. Ong’ondo.

He made the remarks even as KICD chairperson, Prof Simon Gicharu urged the institute to develop programmes for senior school that will accelerate achievement of the Bottom Up Economic Transformation Agenda (BETA) development agenda.

Gicharu said the institute’s council has a huge role to play in approving curricula, even as the country prepares for the first Competency Based Curriculum (CBC) class to transition to senior school in 2026.

High demand

He asked the KICD management to ensure that subjects that lead to high demand of jobs, both locally and internationally like Marine Science, Aviation Science and Foreign languages, including German, French, Mandarin are offered at senior school level to empower youths and accelerate growth and development of the country.

“As a Council, we have a role to play in the approval of all curricula developed or vetted by the institute and ensure that teaching and learning materials meet international standards for application in Basic Education and Teachers Education and training in Kenya,” said Gicharu.

“We need to tap into the available global job opportunities by offering relevant courses driven by the current industrial demand,” he added.

The Basic Education Curriculum Framework, 2017 provides for three career pathways at Senior School, which covers Grades 10 to 12. He said the senior school curriculum should be properly conceptualized before university takes over the competency based education.

They were speaking during an induction workshop for KICD senior management held in Mombasa to appraise them on the ongoing curriculum reforms.