By Maggie Njuki
Even as the government released over 12 Million books for new curriculum, an inspection of the absorption rate of form one students at the Machakos Boys High School saw the learners taken through the registration process on the NEMIS portal with ease.
The National Information and Management System (NEMIS) came under criticism after reports emerged that it was slow and in some instances failed to work. Education principal secretary however assured that all was well after confirming the admission process was taking under two minutes to complete.
Kipsang also hinted that the government has put in place all required resources for the new curriculum.
These include training of teachers and purchase of teaching materials.
The PS said that the government has released more than 12 million books for three learning areas of English , Kiswahili and literacy.
“For literacy activities we have released 8 million books ,and I’m aware we have released 4.5 books for other numerous learning activities”, he said
He disclosed that the government is working to supply books for other areas of environment, hygiene and religious education.
While emphasising the importance of the new curriculum, the PS said it was all good for taking the country to the next level
” This system is good for nurturing our children “, Kipsang added
He asked schools not to force parents in purchase of two books from different publishers with similar content since that will be burdening parents.
The new system is partially supported by the Kenyan government , publishers and USAID
Speaking during the monitoring of rollout of the programme at Kieleleeni primary school, in Mbooni East, Makueni County today, the PS said the preparations for the rollout were effectively done after consultations with external evaluator rubbing off allegations that the new curriculum was a burden to the young learners between PP1 and grade 3.
“The work load is not much as alleged, the kids are to be taken across a number of activities to be children and grow”, said Kipsang.
Comparing the old syllabus of 8:4:4 and the new CBC of 3:6:6:3, the PS said the new program will be all activity based and the system will be looking at what the child can do after going through the process.