Secondary Students’ Specializations Announced by KICD
Secondary Students’ Specializations Announced by KICD. The Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development (KICD) has officially released three areas of competence for students in senior secondary school.
This proclamation is made as the country prepares to phase out the Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) by November 2023.
At the 46th Annual Conference of the Kenya Secondary Heads Association (KESSHA), held in Mombasa’s Sheikh Zayed Hall, KICD provided the regulations for these specializations.
According to KESSHA Chairman Mr. Kahi Indimuli, the three areas of specialization—Arts and Sport Science, Social Sciences, and Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM)—will enhance the Competency Based Curriculum (CBC).
The STEM career track would give students the choice to pursue courses in pure and applied sciences, career and technology studies, as well as technical and engineering vocations.
Secondary Students’ Specializations Announced by KICD
In order to be prepared by 2026, school officials have already started to make strategies to adapt to these changes.
KICD wants every school to offer at least two of the three pathways, despite stakeholders’ recommendations that national schools offer all three to their students.
A school should enroll 60% of its pupils in STEM, 25% in social sciences, and the remaining students in the arts, according to Indimuli.
The task of preparing for the first class of senior secondary school students, who will register in 2026, has been delegated to secondary schools by KICD. Additionally, they were instructed to reorganize their departments and classrooms to follow the chosen pathways.
Indimuli states that “staff capacity building based on the pathways chosen will also be included in the assessment of the academic staff’s capacity.
The government decided to hire 25,000 more teachers at the KESSHA meeting, and capitation funds were allocated in the ratios of 50:30:20 for the first, second, and third terms.
In the budget year 2023–24, the Ministry of Education received Ksh628.6 billion, with a portion of the amount going toward recruiting new teachers.