Taskforce recommends community service for graduates
Senior school graduates will be required to complete a three-month community service programme before enrolling for tertiary institutions.
This is according to recommendations of a report presented to President William Ruto by a task force he had appointed.
The community service, the task force suggests, will help the graduates in becoming relevant to the market demands.
Similarly, tertiary graduates will have to do nine months of community service before they can get a job.
Other recommendations indicate that Junior Secondary Schools (JSS) should be located in primary schools, unlike the initial plan where the first batch of the Competency-Based Curriculum (CBC) joined JSS, causing confusion.
According to the recommendations, the system should be changed and Pre-Primary, Primary and Junior School should be merged into one institution and “Secondary” should be removed from Junior and Senior Secondary Schools.
The reforms submitted aims at improving the education system, and making it more accessible, inclusive, and in line with students’ and job market needs.
Also, the taskforce recommended that the Lower Primary subjects should be reduced to 7, Upper Primary to have 8 subjects, Junior School to have 9, Pre-Primary to have 5, and Senior School to have 7 subjects.
Furthermore, the taskforce has recommend that schools should be categorized based on career paths, where public secondary schools will be grouped based on different careers.
Further, the team has called for provision of more money for different levels, like Sh1, 170 for Pre-Primary, Sh2, 238 for Primary, and Sh22, 527 for Senior School.
The team recommended that all financial support for education should be managed by the Kenya Basic Education Bursaries and Scholarship Council.
On teachers, the team has recommended for new curriculum, where pre-service training graduates will get one-year training for the new curriculum.
The President has also been asked to provide grants, loans, and family contributions for different student groups for fair access to education.
Also read: From fame to words: Celebrities who have authored books
Also, a new law for funding higher education has been recommended, where the Higher Education Loans Board (HELB) and other funds UFB, should be combined.