In 2019, the total number of national secondary schools in Kenya was 105, but after the Ministry of Education included special needs schools in that category, the number, as of 2020, rose to 126. But these schools, prestigious schools, are going to lose their coveted titles, or rather, the ‘nation school’ status soon:
Onward, the government is planning to scrap the national school status with the current shift from the 8-4-4 education system to CBC, the controversial Competency-Based Curriculum (CBC), which follows a 2-6-3-3-3 education cycle;
That is two years in pre-school, 6 in primary school, 3 in junior secondary school, another 3 in senior school and the last 3 in university or college.
According to Education Principal Secretary Belio Kipsang, the government is doing away with the previous categorization of schools based on infrastructure, history and performance, and it is reclassifying them for the benefit of learners who are currently on CBC.
He said all secondary schools will soon be called senior schools, but they are yet to come up with detailed categories which will take into account the respective education offerings of each school.
“We will soon convene a stakeholders engagement on the pathways and pathway placement in Senior School,” PS Kipsang said on Thursday, April 25.
However, what is known is that the specialized categories of senior schools will be derived from the core subjects in that institution if they would be majoring in either Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM), Humanities and Arts, and Creative Arts and Sports.
