School principals want 8-4-4 retained

Secondary schools heads want the 8-4-4 education retained but reformed to give pupils more relevant skills for the job market.

In resolutions made at the Kenya Secondary Schools Heads Association meeting that ended in Mombasa at the weekend, the principals said the system led to mass wastage of pupils through dropouts and failure to gain admission to secondary schools.

“Before we think of scrapping or changing the 8-4-4 system, let us fix the existing gaps first,” said KSSHA chairman Cleopas Tirop who released the resolutions.

A draft report by a taskforce seeking to realign education with the new Constitution has hinted at a proposal that could lead to the scrapping of 8-4-4.

According to the principals’ document, only 42 per cent of pupils enrolled in 2003 completed Standard Eight last year.

Of the 1.3 million children who enrolled in Standard One following the inception of free learning education in 2003, only 746,080 completed their primary cycle last year.

“The big question that begs for answers is, what happened to the 553,520 pupils?” the document asks.

An assessment was needed, said the document, on whether those who dropped out of the system left with skills that could allow them to earn a living.

The school administrators also called for ways of dealing with the big number of candidates left out of admission to Form One.

In total, 759,802 young boys and girls aged between 13 and 14 are out of formal education representing 53 per cent of those who joined Standard One in 2003, according to the document.

The headteachers said the situation contradicted the new Constitution which says that every child has a right to free and compulsory basic education.

They also criticised the trend where schools no longer taught what was in the curriculum and instead emphasised on teaching for exams at the expense of character development and other key competencies.

They called for the introduction of non-examinable subjects from Standard Six to allow pupils develop talents, skills and competencies.

The 36th KSSHA conference also recommended a 50 per cent increase in free learning funds from Sh10,265 to Sh20,530 per year per student.