It is now officially acknowledged that no Kenyan Student will any longer be forced to undertake studies that are related to their weaknesses. Only English, Kiswahili and Mathematics are compulsory subjects as from the 2023 KCSE Examinations.

The rest of the testing will involve 5 other subjects, which will not necessarily be aligned with subject clusters. This direction provided by the Presidential Working Party on Education Reforms-PWPER, safes the 5 year remnants of the 8-4-4 from challenges associated with this current curriculum. Most importantly, the students have unknowingly been suddenly hopped from the 20th to 21st Century Paradigms. What does this mean?

Schools will now be free to align students with their natural orientations, safe for the three compulsory subjects. What will now be most critical is to understand the different career pathways likely to suit every student.

That does not necessarily mean specific careers. The likely challenges may mostly have been unexpected. Why so? Majority of Educationists were mostly just waiting for the end of the 8-4-4 system.

But, based on these recent developments, those students aligned to humanities will have their interests taken care of. Likewise, those aligned to sciences and technical subjects as well, will equally focus on their interests. The passion of those able to fit in different pathways will also come into play.

The main concern is, will the learning programs in schools quickly adapt to these changes? Ideally, adapting to the changes is inevitable since the issue of continued conditioning of students should now be a thing of the past. Remember that conditioning has widely been occasioned by making students to follow extrinsic rather than intrinsic factors. How?

Subject clusters have been critical in determining the direction of every student, as they focus on specific careers. The weight will now focus towards following different career pathways, without any forced considerations.

Seemingly, it may now be easier for KUCPS – Kenya Universities and Colleges Placement Services to just align candidates with their strengths. Your guess on the likely success of this approach could be as good as mine, isn’t it?

Rgds

Mwangi Wanjumbi (MKIM)
Personal Empowerment Coach,
Speaker/Trainer on Strategy, Performance, Change Management and Leadership.
Seasoned Trainer of Trainers,
Competency Based Curriculum-CBC Architect,
Author of 1. KICD approved Career Dynamics in the 21st Century, 2. Living Beyond Survival:No More Tiptoeing in Life

  1. The 21st Century Student:Are You Creating The Future Today? Also, Retired 5 Year Monthly Strategy Columnist (2013 – 2018) for The SME Today Magazine Phone 254722516210

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