By Brian Okoth
Kenya has marked the end of primary school exams under the old curriculum, which saw learners spend eight years in primary school, four years in secondary, and at least four years in university (8-4-4 system).
The 2023 class, which received its examination results on Thursday, was the last to be graded under the Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) programme.
Moving forward, learners will be graded under a new education system called the competency-based-curriculum (CBC), which was introduced in December 2017 during the reign of former President Uhuru Kenyatta.
Under the CBC programme, which emphasises academic, technical, and talent development, learners will spend two years in pre-primary school, six years in primary, three years in junior secondary, three years in senior secondary, and at least three years in university (2-6-3-3-3 system).
Progressive grading
Already, there are millions of students enrolled under the new education curriculum.
During senior secondary education (grades 10, 11 and 12), learners are expected to specialise in certain subjects that would facilitate their transition to preferred careers.
The main specialisation areas, according to the Kenyan government, are Arts and Sports, Social Sciences, and STEM subjects (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics).
Unlike the 8-4-4 system, which has national exams at the end of primary and secondary education, the CBC system in Kenya does not have an equivalent of national exams.
Learners are graded progressively, with more focus placed on practical skills as opposed to theory. The CBC system is also more parent-involving than the 8-4-4 system, which had existed since 1985, when Daniel Moi was Kenya's president.
Performance ranking
Over the years, Kenya has been ranking examination candidates, under the 8-4-4 system, a move that was faulted by education experts, who said ranking of students encouraged the vice of exam cheating.
In the East African nation, the higher marks a student gets, the higher chance they have of being placed in a secondary school that posts good grades in the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) national exams.
Under the 8-4-4 curriculum, KCSE exam results determine which course one pursues in university, with science courses requiring high qualification grades.
The 2023 KCPE class will be the final lot to sit KCSE exam in 2027.
Top KCPE candidate in 2023
Under the KCPE system, pupils write five examination subjects, namely Mathematics, English, Kiswahili, Science and Social Studies/Religious Education. Each subject attracts a maximum of 100 marks, meaning the entire exam is graded out of 500.
The 2023 KCPE top candidate was Michael Warutere of the Riara Springs Academy in Kenya's capital Nairobi. He got 428 marks out of the possible 500.
For KCSE, the students have seven gradable subjects, with the best grade being an A plain capped at 12 points.
That means that the highest overall grade a learner can score in a KCSE examination is an A plain of 84 points (12 points of each subject, multiplied by seven – the total number of gradable subjects).
