The Kenya National Union of Teachers (Knut) has appealed to the government to increase capitation funds for primary and secondary schools.

In a proposal to the Education Ministry, the union wants capitation for Free Primary Education reviewed from Sh1,420 to Sh4,000.

The presidential working party had proposed the figure to be reviewed to Sh2,237, which the union says is still low.

For Junior Secondary School, Knut is proposing review of capitation to Sh22,000 up from Sh15,547 set by the Presidential Working Party on Education Reforms.

For senior secondary, the union wants the monies reviewed from the current allocation of Sh22,244 to Sh35,000.

The union has also expressed confidence over the start of Junior School one year on.

This is an upward revision to the proposal of Sh1,170 given by the Presidential Working Party on Education Reforms through county governments.

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The proposal comes as the union today (Monday) commences the 63rd annual delegates conference set to run for three days to December 6.

Knut has also called on the government to ignore the debate seeking migration of the JSS from primary schools to secondary schools.

During the NEC meeting on Sunday Knut Secretary Union Collins Oyuu said they want primary school head teachers to run the comprehensive school – pre-primary, primary and JSS.

“It is an insult to think that primary school teachers are not able to teach and run JSS,” Oyuu said.

The proposal, to migrate JSS, was fronted by the Kenya Union of Post-Primary Education Teachers arguing that the primary schools lack the capacity to support the junior school level.

But Knut has dismissed the proposal as mere union politics and instead wants the JSS rollout to continue as planned.

“With approximately 23,000 primary schools compared to a significantly lower number of 8,000 secondary schools, it is clear that the primary schools can ensure better access to education,” Oyuu said.

Addressing concerns on the capacity of primary school teachers to handle JSS, the union said there considerable number of qualified educators equipped with diplomas, degrees, and postgraduate qualifications capable of handling JSS education.

They warned Kuppet against undermining the teachers’ capabilities to teach JSS, given their comprehensive training and retooling.

“The decision to house JSS under Comprehensive School was backed by comprehensive research conducted by educational and economic experts,” he said

On the plight of intern teachers whose contracts are nearing expiration by the end of the year, the union said there was no formal communication on the matter.

He appealed to the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) to confirm the over 56,000 interns to permanent and pensionable terms.

TSC had in November revealed to parliament that it intends to extend the contract of intern teachers by a further one month and then confirm them to permanent and pensionable terms in 2025.

The United Kingdom has pledged to donate Sh800 million to help boost education and support presidential taskforce reforms.

Speaking on Tuesday at the Eastlands Library, Foreign Secretary James Cleverly said the money will help to implement presidential task force reforms.

“I am delighted to announce a new UK programme to help deliver our aspirations for closer partnerships. We will invest 4.4 million pounds (Sh800 million) to support education reforms including the presidential task force on reforms,” he said.

President William Ruto on September 29, 2022, appointed the Presidential Working Party on Education Reform (PWPER).

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They were mandated to submit the Report covering all the Terms of Reference and titled, Transforming Education, Training and Research for Sustainable Development in Kenya.

In August, the Presidential Working Party on Education Reforms submitted its report to the President.

Ruto issued a directive to the Ministry of Education to implement education reforms within the given timeframe.

Some of the recommendations included the Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development (KICD) reducing learning areas in Lower Primary from 9 to 7, Upper Primary from 12 to 8, Junior Schools from 14 to 9, Pre-Primary to have 5 and Senior Schools have 7.

The committee wanted the school capitation to be increased by Sh1,170 for Pre-Primary, Double capitation to Sh2,238 for Primary level, Junior Schools Sh15,043 and Sh22,527 for Senior Schools (Day).

Others included Sh19,800 for Special Needs Institutions SNE (Day) and Sh38,280 for SNE (Boarding).

They recommended that the capitation and grants be reviewed every three years.

However, Education Cabinet Secretary Ezekiel Machogu has since halted the implementation of the presidential working group pending Parliament approval.

Machogu said the rollout will now await approval from Parliament.

The Presidential Working Party on Education Reforms had recommended that the Ministry of Education rationalise the number of learning areas across the various levels of basic education to eliminate duplication and overlaps.

The Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development made the necessary consultations and in exercise of its statutory mandate under Section 4 of the KICD Act moved to rationalise the learning areas as recommended.

The rationalised learning areas were submitted in Parliament on Wednesday by Education Cabinet Secretary Ezekiel Machogu in a report on the status of examination preparedness among other key issues.

Machogu said Pre-Primary school, that is PP 1 and 2 shall have their learning areas remain the same.

“The learning areas at this level are currently five (5); hence, they shall remain as they are until a review is undertaken,” the report read.

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The CS said Lower Primary ranging from Grade 1 to 3 have had their learning areas reduced from the current eight to seven.

He said the number of lessons will also be reduced from 35 to 31 per week, including the Pastoral Programme of Instruction.

Upper Primary school learners from Grades 4 to 6 will have their learning areas reduced from 10 to eight.

“The number of lessons to be reduced from 40 to 36 per week including a Pastoral Programme of Instruction,” Machogu said.

For Junior School, the learning areas are to be reduced from 14 to nine.

The number of lessons has also been reduced from 45 to 43 per week including the Pastoral Programme of Instruction.

Senior School’s learning areas have been reduced to seven.

“However, the curriculum designs for Senior School will be finalised once the process for Junior School is concluded,” Machogu said.

The Working Party recommended that KICD rationalise the learning areas after noting complaints from stakeholders about the high cost of the curriculum and the high number of learning areas.

KICD CEO Charles Ong’ondo acknowledged that people had raised concerns over the idea of scraping some subjects and learning areas in the Competence-Based Curriculum.

Ong’ondo said some people had fears that if some learning areas were scrapped, then learners would have fewer options to choose from when picking subjects for their career paths.

Speaking in an interview with Citizen TV on August 10, Ong’ondo said the institute was not scrapping learning areas but rather, rationalising them.

“Just to assure the country, what we are doing is not scrapping nor is it killing learning areas as some people have said. We are rationalising,” he said.

The KICD boss said one of the ways the institute is rationalising the curriculum is by looking at some learning areas which have related strands and sub-strands and accommodating them in one learning area.

“You look at a learning area in Junior School like health education and then you say there is a lot of overlap between some of the issues that we are dealing with in Health education that could be accommodated within the broader area of science,” he said.

He said the move to accommodate some learning areas in others is better than scrapping them off in totality.

“This makes sure that the critical competencies that learners are supposed to have are not lost. It also makes sure that we are still giving the learners adequate exposure to be able to choose the specific career pathways they want,” Ong’ondo said.

Parliament on Wednesday stopped the rollout of President William Ruto’s Education reforms insisting that implementation of recommendations before MPs’ approval amounts to usurping the House powers.

The move could throw the education sector into untold confusion as implementations of some of the recommendations of the task force were already being rolled out.

Prof Raphael Munavu led the Presidential Working Party on Education Reform.

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The task force made radical proposals that completely alters the manner the education sector is being run in the country.

On Wednesday, the National Assembly put brakes on the rollout of the recommendations, saying Parliament was skipped before the implementation.

According to MPs, Parliament must ratify the proposals as either regulations or substantial law before implementation.

Rising on a point of order, Emuhaya MP Omboko Milemba brought the Speaker’s attention to a number of the recommendations that he argued breached a number of legislations as well as the constitutional provisions.

He urged Speaker Moses Wetang’ula to make a ruling on the ongoing implementation even before Parliament formally ratifies the proposals.

“We want your direction so that people do not change the law or the Constitution through the backdoor,” Omboko charged.

Among the recommendations that were being rolled out is the new grading system, the new funding model as well as the rationalisation of new learning areas.

The government is also in the process of domiciling Junior Secondary Schools (JSS) from secondary schools to primary schools as was recommended by the Munavu-led task force.

A number of lawmakers supported Omboko, demanding that the Speaker gives direction on the matter.

Ainabkoi MP William Chepkonga said the recommendations and the move to implement the same before the House gives a stamp of approval amounts to taking over the law-making function of Parliament.

“There is no one in this country that can make law however high or mighty they think they are,” Chepkonga said.

“We don’t expect any other person who has not been elected to make law,that is contravention of the Constitution. This is a matter that you should issue a statement from your chair, the implementations should stop.”

Rarieda MP Otiende Omollo berated the Education ministry for overstepping its mandate, saying such proposals can only be implemented after Parliament or the courts ascertain their legality.

“I am aware that not only is it a policy document that has not been crystallised into law, but they have purported to appoint an implementation committee which is already implementing it, it’s not even considered if Parliament will accept it into law or not,” he said.

Majority leader Kimani Ichung’wah undertook to escalate the matter to Education CS Ezekiel Machogu to have him stop implementation of recommendations that requires concurrence with Parliament.

“Nobody including Cabinet secretaries have the power to make the law, not even a presidential working group. The best they can do is to make recommendations that if they are adopted by this House they can be implemented,” the Kikuyu MP said.

The same position was taken by Wetang’ula, who said only Parliament has the mandate to make laws in the country.

“Nobody and I repeat nobody including Cabinet secretaries can purport to make law or do things that can be interpreted that they have made law, because they have no capacity to make law,” he said.

Teachers Service Commission (TSC) wants the National Assembly to intervene with a bid to have recommendations by a taskforce on the Competency Based Curriculum (CBC) thrown out on grounds that they will interfere with its constitutional mandate.
Chief Executive Nancy Macharia, in a brief to the parliamentary Committee on Education, said the proposals by the Presidential Working Party on Education Reforms (PWPER), take away its key mandate and functions.
In particular, TSC said despite submitting a comprehensive Memorandum and engaging a committee of the Working Party, the taskforce failed to consider its input on critical matters involving the teaching service.
Said Macharia: “The Commission’s Board has analyzed the recommendations of the Report, and identified areas that will impact its mandate and functions under the Constitution and Statute Law. Specifically, the PWPER did not only exclude the Commission from the list of institutions visited, but also the list of the organizations that submitted their Memoranda to the party.”
She added: “It is the Commission’s considered request that retaining those clauses will not only affect the mandate of the Commission but will also impair the efficient management of the teaching service. It is against this background that the Commission humbly seeks your intervention with a view to aligning the PWPER recommendations to the Constitutional and statutory provisions relating to teacher management.

This will enhance and promote harmony in the teaching service and education sector at large.”
Among the amendments they challenge include those touching on powers of the Ministry of Education, specifically on teacher recruitment and promotion as well as setting of guidelines touching on schools and internships of trainee teachers.

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The commission opposes the proposal to give powers to the Ministry of Education to develop guidelines on how all teachers who graduated before 2023 will undergo a mandatory one-year retooling and upgrading programme for compliance with the curriculum change.
According to TSC, the taskforce has erroneously given the ministry powers to carry out the exercise without reference to the Commission on training adding that the recommendation has the effect of restricting employment opportunities for teachers and altering the registration requirements.
Said Macharia: “The recommendation has the effect of restricting employment opportunities for teachers and altering the registration requirements.”
On the proposal to allow the ministry to control operations in learning institutions as well as TSC to decentralize its functions, the commission says the disbandment of the directorate will lead to TSC losing the key functions such as Teacher Registration and Maintenance of the Teacher register, Teacher Performance, Appraisal and Development, Teacher Professional Development, Capacity Building, Improving quality of Teaching Service.
Regarding promotions, deployment of teachers, teacher welfare and institutional administrators which the taskforce recommends that TSC works hand in hand with the Ministry, the commission said that this will render existing policies irrelevant, create ambiguity in the targeted areas of harmonisation as well as lead to potential conflicts in institutional management as the appointment of heads of institution will be a shared role between the Commission and MoE.
Macharia said: “Under the constitution and the TSC Act, strategies for teacher management is a preserve of the Commission. The recommendation to have another entity to co-share in this responsibility will amount to a usurpation of the Commission’s powers and its operational independence.”
On the proposal to have the TSC Act be amended to introduce a new Section 46A, that any person aggrieved by the decision of the Commission may appeal to the Education Appeals Tribunal, Macharia said such an amendment would technically subject all the decisions of the Commission to the proposed Tribunal.
“The proposal will negate the decisional independence of the Commission as provided under Article 249 of the Constitution. The proposed amendment will place the Commission under direct control, supervision and management of the Tribunal,” she said.
On the proposal to have TSC review existing policies and guidelines on Pre- Primary teacher deployment and Institutional administration, the commission said there is likelihood that TSC may be allocated additional functions outside its constitutional mandate.
On the amendments to allow the ministry to review entry grades for pre-service teaching programs, TSC said this will see the subject cluster approach cease being in existence.

Transferring the responsibility to set entry standards of teaching service to the ministry and other entities, she said will amount to usurpation of the constitutional mandate of the Commission.
The proposal to allow MOE to establish a comprehensive school will system where all levels of learning are managed as one institution (PP1 — Grade 9), Macharia said that this will Increase in the number of institutional administrator as well as increase the mandate of the Commission to cover management of Pre-primary education which is a preserve of the County Government.

On the requirement that A candidate with a recognized certificate in a technical subject area from a recognized college shall be considered for Diploma training in the same subject area, TSC said that the prescribed minimum entry mean grade may not be considered at the point of registration adding that this will require a review of the registration requirement and teacher Recruitment policy.
The requirement that the commission should  offer all education graduates an opportunity to undertake a mandatory one-year internship programme upon completion of Pre- service training, TSC said that  internship program before employment will affect the ongoing internship policy and practice by the Commission.
Said Macharia: “The Commission will require additional financial resources to engage all graduates. There will be need for change in the registration requirements.”

The Presidential Working Party on Education Reforms (PWPER) has suggested a mandatory one-year retooling programme for pre-service training graduates, followed by a year-long internship before formal registration as teachers.

The current Grade 7 teachers were retooled from March 13 to 19, 2023 on a face-to-face basis in Teacher Training Colleges (TTCs) and select venues in the country.

The taskforce, led by Prof. Raphael Munavu, noted that the recommendation is timely seeing that the country’s education system is transiting from the 8-4-4 system to the new Competency-Based Curriculum (CBC).

PWPER noted that the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) had already taken action, retooling over 229,000 primary and 55,125 Junior Secondary School(JSS) teachers, covering 82% of the workforce.

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In addition, it has also introduced remote learning to adapt to the changing educational landscape through technological integration which is crucial for effective CBC delivery.

The taskforce observed that the transformation aligns with the UN’s Sustainable Development Goal(SDG) 4 which emphasizes inclusive and equitable education.

Additionally, TSC has introduced Teacher Professional Development (TPD) courses to enhance pedagogical and management skills which ensure that teachers stay tech-savvy.

PWPER also cited mobile applications such as NABU, which offers multilingual children’s books and aligns perfectly with CBC’s goals, providing tools and assessments to enhance critical thinking.

Education Cabinet Secretary Ezekiel Machogu has said the Ministry is ready to execute the recommendations issued by the Presidential Working Party on Education reforms.

The working party submitted the report to President William Ruto last week with guidelines on the structure and the content to be taught in schools.

Machogu endorsed the president’s directive of implementing the reforms within the given timeframe.

“I wish to state that the Ministry of Education is fully prepared to implement most of these recommendations as would be directed by President William Ruto from time to time,” Machogu said.

Some of the recommendations in the report include a reduction of learning areas in Lower Primary from 9 to 7, 12 to 8 in Upper Primary, 14 to 9 in Junior Schools, Pre-Primary to 5 and Senior Schools 7.

The committee also directed the school capitation to be increased by Sh1,170 for Pre-Primary, Double capitation to Sh2,238 for Primary level, Junior Schools Sh15,043 and Sh22,527 for Senior Schools (Day).

Others include Sh19,800 for Special Needs Institutions (SNE), (Day) and Sh38,280 for SNE (Boarding).

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They recommended that the capitation and grants be reviewed every three years.

The committee also wants the Ministry to adopt a Comprehensive School system (PP1- Grade 9) comprising Pre-Primary, Primary school and Junior School managed as one institution.

They also recommended dropping the term “Secondary” from Junior Secondary and Senior Secondary Schools.

Ruto said the Competency-Based Curriculum (CBC) is his biggest achievement in the education sector adding that the reforms are critical in building human capital.

“I told Kenyans that we will solve the confusion in the education system. I remember that CBC had confused a lot of people with many parents and guardians being hopeless but the taskforce has made good reforms,” Ruto said during an interview with Inooro TV.

Grading of Form Four national examinations is set for major changes that could provide millions of students under 8-4-4 with a better chance of improving their final scores.

The new proposals to review the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) are part of the recommendations approved by President William Ruto while receiving the education reforms team.

The Presidential Working Party for Education Reform proposes that grading of KCSE should use two compulsory subjects in determining the learners’ final scores.

The compulsory subjects will be one language (English or Kiswahili) and Mathematics.

These two subjects will be used alongside a candidate’s best five performed subjects to compute the final score.

Presently, the Kenya National Examination Council (Knec) grades candidates based on five compulsory subjects and two other best-performing subjects.

Knec uses a candidate’s scores in Mathematics, which is compulsory, two compulsory languages, namely English and Kiswahili, and two sciences chosen from either Biology, Chemistry, and Physics.

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The remaining two subjects are derived from humanities/art courses, chosen from Religious Education, Geography, History, Business Studies, Agriculture, and other technical subjects.

In its recommendations, the reforms team said, “Develop guidelines for computing KCSE mean score (based on English/Kiswahili, Maths, and five other best subjects).”

The team proposed that the changes be implemented within one year. This means that if they are affected, the 2023 candidates will be the first to benefit from the new proposal.

President William Ruto, on Wednesday, indicated that out of the 11,000 secondary schools in the country, over 5,000 schools do not send a single child to university, with many of them located in rural areas.

“That is a cause for us to do some soul searching. Many of the students who end up at our universities are the children in academies and the children of people who can afford a certain quality of education. Kenya cannot continue like this; we have to rethink,” he said.

President William Ruto is this morning expected to receive the final taskforce report that if adopted will completely transform the country’s education system.

Prof Raphael Munavu led the Working Party on Education Reforms (WPER) that was tasked with re-evaluating the Competency Based Curriculum (CBC) and is set to present its final report to the head of state this morning at the State House.

“The presentation of our report has been planned for tomorrow at the House. We will share updates and timings with everyone shortly,” a short text message sent by Prof Munavu to the 42 members of the task force stated.

Among the far-reaching proposals made by the team, is the trimming of clipping of the giant Teachers Service Commission (TSC) with the Ministry of Education being empowered to handle quality and assurance standards as the former is left to deal with human resource issues.

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In the far-reaching policy proposals, the ministry will have a say in the transfer and promotion of teachers, a role that is at the core of the TSC mandate.

The proposal is said to have been informed by the fact that while the Ministry releases billions of shillings to schools, it has no influence over the fund managers who report directly to TSC.

A proposal has now been made to have a consistent body that looks into education reforms in the country.

Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development (KICD) Director, Prof Charles Ong’ondo on Tuesday proposed the need to form a Council that brings a broad spectrum of stakeholders and practitioners, instead of having to establish task forces and Commission over time to look into education reforms.

“The suggestion is that we have a more or less consistent body, it does not have to be permanent. It could be a body that we call once in a while as long as we know who is represented, which continually thinks about things like our curricula and offers suggestions on how we can improve education going forward. I think then they will consistently have in mind what other bodies have thought about, where we are as a country and where we are going,” said Ong’ondo, during the ongoing African Curriculum Association (ACA) conference being held at KICD.

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The Director explained that KICD is a facilitator of curriculum development processes and members of the board are mostly educators.

But with a Council in place, he said it would bring a bigger body that can then feed in a safe environment into KICD, whose day to day is facilitation of curriculum development processes.

Should that kind be conceptualised, Ong’ondo said the country can also think about other roles it should be given and one of them could be funding models for higher education and resource mobilisation for implementation of education.

The proposal is premised on the fact that the country has had close to 10 or more Commissions, task forces or presidential working parties on education in the country, which have all done a good job.

These include the Ominde Commission of 1964, Gachathi Commission of 1976, Kamunge Commission of 1988, Koech Commission in 1999, Douglas Odhiambo taskforce in 2012, Fatuma Chege taskforce of 2019 and now there is the Presidential Working Party on Education Reforms

“When you read all these taskforce reports keenly, and I have taken time to analyse their objectives and key recommendations, you find a bit of consistency. Incidentally the consistency is towards Competency Based Curriculum. It says we should have a curriculum that is flexible, gives every learner an opportunity and values and to that extent we are consistent,” he explained.

He however said there are some variations in terms of their suggestions on content, pedagogical approaches and suggestions on resources as well structure of basic education

“Because of that, it means every time recommendations come, the country is geared towards how to implement and before you have settled another commission report comes up. Even as we talk now, the current working party has come up with recommendations and I do not think it will be the last,” he stated.

Ong’ondo said one of the reasons that CBC has survived is because the President was fully briefed about the system and he believes in a curriculum where every learner has a future.

At the same time, Ong’ondo called for the need to have a consistent curriculum development framework in Africa.

“The real reason for that is that the vision for curriculum development across Africa is shared and our vision is to catch up with the rest of the world,” he said.

The Director noted the need to provide flexible curriculum where no learner is left behind, saying it is essential for Africa to create a system whereby as people move from one country to another in the continent because of work, culture and relatives, learning can continue.

He also said a framework is required because right now, the East Africa has one that guides curriculum development and implementation in the region and so does West and Southern Africa.

“It is now time to harness this so that we are able to move together. Kenya is one of the few countries that have a Basic Education Curriculum Framework so we are telling leaders in their countries to come up with their own,” he said

If an African Curriculum Development Framework is to be developed, it means harnessing what other countries have and Kenya will take leadership by showing what it has been able to produce.