Government to polish diploma graduates for new curriculum

The government plans to phase out P1 teacher training and focus on producing diploma graduates competent enough to implement the Competency Based Curriculum.

Education Principal Secretary Belio Kipsang made this announcement on Thursday, saying the group of trainees admitted last year will be the last.

"This year, all teacher trainees will be admitted to diploma programmes and graduates will be ready to teach the CBC," he said at the Kenya School of Government in Embu County.

"We would like to have another crop of teachers well-equipped to deliver on the new curriculum," he told a meeting of experts designing the rest of the curriculum.

The phasing out of P1 training will do away with a system that has seen Kenya produce teachers for itself and other countries.

PROGRESS

Regarding progress in the implementation of the new curriculum, Dr Kipsang reported that 27 million textbooks had been supplied to public primary schools.

He also reported that 91,000 teachers were trained during the holidays on the new system of education.

The 2-6-3-3-3 system succeeds the 8-4-4 system that has been in use since the 1980s.

The PS noted that the new system is meant to ensure graduates have desired 21st-century skills.

He asked teachers to be selfless in its implementation, in line with the dictates of their noble profession.