Current grade nine students in junior secondary schools are set to sit for their final examination in November in preparation for senior secondary school enrolment next year under the Competency-Based Curriculum (CBC).
Although set to replace the Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) Examination, the Kenya Junior Secondary Education Assessment (KJSEA) will differ significantly, not just in how it will be administered but how candidates will be placed into senior secondary schools.
As opposed to KCPE where a singular exam at the end of eight years in primary school would determine the future of the pupil, the new KJSEA will adopt a broader perspective.
According to the Kenya National Examination Council (KNEC) Chief Executive Officer (CEO) David Njengere, besides the final KJSEA examination, a summative assessment will be done to determine the students’ overall performances in grades seven and eight as well.
Candidates from St Anne’s Girls High School, Lioki, in Kiambu County sit for KCSE papers on November 6, 2023.
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KNEC
“This means that in grade seven and grade eight, these learners are sitting for the school-based assessments and that is one strategy of ensuring that we move away from high stakes exam that comes at the end of a cycle but we cumulatively look at how they are acquiring the competencies along the way,” Njengere said in a recent interview.
In addition to this cumulative assessment, the students will also have to fill in a questionnaire in which they will declare their career and future aspirations.
True to its competency-based criteria, this questionnaire will be instrumental in determining which classes these students will be placed in while in senior secondary school.
These classes have been categorised into three broad pathways based on the student’s interests and academic performance.
Pathway one dubbed ‘Arts and Sports’ will include subjects in Sports Science, Performing Arts and Visual Arts. The second pathway is ‘Social Sciences’ which will cover subjects in Languages and Literature, Humanities and Business Studies.
Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) is the final pathway which encapsulates subjects in Pure Sciences, Applied Sciences, Technical and Engineering Studies, and Careers and Technology Studies.
However, students will be allowed to pursue two pathways to access more opportunities in different fields.
“These are the interests expressed, these are their performances and these are the available pathways,” Njengere added.
To further the competency agenda, the new enrolment will also do away with the categorisation of schools in terms of National Schools, Extra County Schools, County Schools, etc.
The grade 10 classes will be carried out in the current high schools and will replace form one. Currently, secondary schools have not admitted any form one students and the 8-4-4 system is set to phase out in 2027 when the current form two class sits for their Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) examination.
KNEC CEO David Njengere during the announcement of the 2022 KCPE Exam at Mtihani House on Wednesday, December 21, 2022.
KNEC