Understand How CBC Subjects Will be Merged In New Reforms
The government will put into practise suggestions to lighten the load by combining five elementary school subjects as part of a new curriculum.
In elementary school, integrated science, home science, and health education will all be taught as one topic.
The three learning areas might become distinct curricula under the plan.
At the moment, social studies and life skills are taught as independent courses under the Competency-Based Curriculum (CBC). The creator of the curriculum is thinking of integrating the two.
This is in response to the Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development’s (KICD) suggestion that the number of academic disciplines be decreased by the Presidential Working Group on Education Reforms.
The number of topics in lower primary will drop from nine to seven, in upper primary from twelve to eight, in junior high from fourteen to nine, in pre-primary from five to seven, and in senior high from seven to five.
According to KICD CEO Charles Ong’ondo, the subjects that will be combined have concepts in common.
After doing a careful investigation, they discovered that specific concepts were connected, according to Prof. Ongondo.
They began to think about combining these ideas as a result, particularly in the context of integrated science and health education. The idea was to combine them into a single curriculum, integrated science, as opposed to keeping them as separate subjects.
KICD is thinking about incorporating home science and health education into an integrated scientific curriculum, similar to what happens in primary school.
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However, the curriculum designer suggests making the ninth subject optional; the student’s aptitude will determine which topic they choose.
What once could have been required will now be discretionary, according to Ong’ondo.
Junior Secondary school pupils will study 14 subjects in January, of which 12 are necessary.
Students are required to attend 45 lessons per week for a total of four hours, as per the KICD curriculum.
Along with the mother tongue, additional optional subjects will include English, Kiswahili, Mathematics, Integrated Science, Health Education, Pre-Technical and Pre-Career Studies, Social Studies, Religion, Business, Agriculture, Life Skills Education, Physical Education/Sports, and Foreign Languages (German, French, and Mandarin).
The subject that will become optional is now being reviewed by an institute review panel.
He also mentioned that a panel was meeting at KICD right now to assess every subject taught in junior high school. They concentrated on identifying subjects that could still be studied independently and figuring out which ones would eventually become electives.
He said that whether or not a subject is made optional would depend significantly on how many resources it needs.
The issue of resource availability was a factor in the decision of which subjects should be optional.
He added that they were thinking about several learning areas that had a lot of potential but might not be currently practical to implement in all of the nation’s schools.
Ong’ondo claimed that because the CBC has not yet advanced to the senior secondary level, the suggested changes won’t significantly affect the learning areas.
He added that the seven issues that the presidential team had proposed were among those that were originally planned.
Ong’ondo said that regardless of whether this will lower the calibre of some subjects, they will balance the content when they include it into the already-existing subjects.
Understand How CBC Subjects Will be Merged In New Reforms
