Headteachers want 8-4-4 system retained

Secondary school heads are opposed to the scrapping of the 8-4-4 system of education.

The Kenya Secondary Schools Heads Association has instead called on the government to come up with ways of addressing the pitfalls of the system rather than seeking to dispense with it altogether.

Chairman Cleophas Tirop said the government’s in-ability to raise as little as Sh10 billion to recruit more teachers was testimony that any move to implement a new education system will be a disaster.

“We should not even think about it,” Mr Tirop said.

Currently, there is a shortage of about 80,000 teachers in primary and secondary schools, he said.

A taskforce headed by former Moi University vice-chancellor Douglas Odhiambo has called for the replacement of the current system with a new 2-6-3-3 format where learners begin to specialise in the last three years of secondary school.

Implementation of the recommended system is expected to cost about Sh350 billion.

But on Monday, Mr Tirop said the priority of the government should be to equip existing schools with teaching and learning materials such as laboratory equipment and books.

The association singled out new schools established using cash from the Constituency Development Fund as some of those requiring support.

“We are being over ambitious to suggest that we can do better with a new system,” Mr Tirop said.

Although Mr Tirop was a member of the taskforce that made the recommendation, he said the views were those of his association of more than 6,000 teachers.