Education Cabinet Secretary, Dr. Fred Matiang’i has announced the new proposed education system will take effect from May this year.

KICD has proposed a 2-6-3-3 education system to take over from 8-4-4 system which was introduce by former president Daniel Arap Moi in the year1985.

Depending on the reviews and recommendations of the pilot programme, the Ministry of Education plans to then start rolling out the system in phases starting from pre-primary school and lower primary school classes in 2018.

Contrarily to 8-4-4 which heavily relied on national examinations as a means of weighing scale, the new system instead emphasizes more on continuous assessments and holistic development of learners.

Under the proposed education system, Early Childhood Education (ECD) has been recognised as an important phase in learning and young learners will be required to spend two years in ECD centres before joining primary schools for another six years.

CS Matiang’i denied claims that his ministry was hastily deploying the new system, saying contrary to that the education ministry has put in measures to ensure sustainability of the system.

He further clarified that the new system was not cast in stone rather plans were in place to review the system every 5 years.

Kenya National Examinations Council (KNEC) is the only government body tasked with implementation of policy document and is required to recommend on pupil assessment plans.

Matiang’i was Addressing a national conference on curriculum reforms at Kenyatta International Conference Centre (KICC) when he made the remarks signaling the end of 8-4-4.