Listen to This Article Enhance your reading experience by listening to this article.

The new Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development (KICD) Chairperson, Simon Gicharu has been appointed at a time when education reforms are at their peak.

Gicharu will lead KICD, which among its roles, includes evaluating, vetting and approving curricular and curriculum support materials for basic and tertiary education.

KICD has a central role in the ongoing Competency Based Curriculum (CBC) implementation, currently in Grade Seven, against the backdrop of also taking into account the Presidential Working Party on Education Reforms (PWPER) recommendations.

On Friday, President William Ruto appointed Gicharu, who is the Mt Kenya University (MKU) Founder, to the position and revoked the incumbent’s appointment.

“In powers conferred by Section 5(2) (a) of the KICD Act as read together with Section 51(1) of the Interpretation and General Provisions Act, I appoint Simon Gicharu to be the Chairperson of KICD for a period of three years with effect from October 13. The appointment of Prof Elishiba Njambi Kimani is revoked,” said Ruto in a gazette notice.

One of the key areas that Gicharu is coming to is the process of reviewing learning areas under the CBC.

Curriculum designs

PWPER states that KICD should rationalise the number of learning areas and curriculum designs in terms of scope, integration of subjects within a learning area, gaps, content overload and overlaps in basic education

“KICD should reduce the number of learning areas from 9 to 7 at Lower Primary, 12 to 8 at Upper Primary, 14 to 9 at Junior School in order to address overload and overlaps. The learning areas at Pre-Primary to be 5 and at Senior School to be 7,” PWPER recommended.

Already, KICD has developed curriculum designs for senior secondary, which comprises Grades 10, 11 and 12, with the first class expected to join in 2026.

KICD Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Charles Ong’ondo said the institute is on the phase of developing curriculum support materials, which include books, electronic material including digital materials.

“We have already called for Grade 9…We normally ask publishers to submit and right now they have submitted for Grade 10 and by May next year we will have all books and electronic materials available,” he recently explained.

Higher CBC level

Saying that they are better prepared for senior school, Ong’ondo also stated that teachers are also being prepared to better handle this higher level of CBC.

“We have started preparing our teachers towards this and we believe that a year ahead of implementation of CBC at senior school we will be ready with all the materials, designs and teachers trained… this time we are better prepared,” he recently affirmed.

He added: “In collaboration with TSC, we are training teachers. We also quickly want to explain that all the teachers we are training are qualified to teach senior schools anywhere in the world but we are reorienting them so that they are able to do pedagogy, content, creativity better.”

In other roles, Gicharu will be expected to oversee the process of digitizing performing arts.

In August, the President said the Government is seeking to digitize talent for young learners as part of supporting creative economy.

Ruto urged KICD to digitize talent showcased in the Kenya Music Festivals by developing a YouTube channel to sell children’s content.

The President said that he already gave instructions to KICD to ensure all talent on display at the music festival is digitized, even as he stated that a good measure of this process is now done.

“KICD, I am looking forward to you reporting to me how much money you have made from all this content and then I will tell you how we will share that money and maybe in the near future we will not be looking for money from the Exchequer to host talent, it should be able to run itself because we have what it takes,” Ruto said.

At the same time, Gicharu, who has been a key stakeholder in the university sector is also expected to be central as preparations are made towards CBC transition  from basic to university education.