The much-awaited report on the Presidential Working Party on Education Reforms was received by President Willian Ruto. Several recommendations in the education sector have been captured in the report. The recommendations are intended to revamp the Kenyan educational system by making it more open, inclusive, and responsive to the evolving demands of students and the job market. The following are the excerpts from the report

The key recommendations include:

• Ministry of Education to adopt a Comprehensive School system (PP1 — Grade 9) comprising Pre-Primary, Primary School and Junior School managed as one institution .The term “Secondary” be dropped from the current Junior Secondary and Senior Secondary School
• Kenya should prioritise investing in foundational learning to avert future crisis in education .Basic literacy, numeracy and transferable skills such as social ,emotional skills ensures essential blocks for acquiring higher order skills.
• Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development (KICD) to reduce the number of learning areas from 9 to 7 at Lower Primary; 12 to 8 at Upper Primary; 14 to 9 at Junior School in order to address overload and overlaps. The learning areas at Pre-Primary to be 5 and at Senior School to be 7.
• Ministry of Education to discontinue the current categorization of public secondary schools as National, Extra-county, County and Sub-county; and adopt a categorization based on career pathways for senior schools.
• Re-name Education Management Information System (EMIS) to Kenya Education Management Information System (KEMIS); and the Ministry of Education in collaboration with the Ministry of Interior and National Administration to integrate registration of births and to capture students in tertiary and vocational institutions as well as school-age learners who are out of school.
• The Ministry of Education to establish Kenya School of Teacher and Education Management (KeSTEM) to coordinate In-service training; and Kenya Teacher Training College (KeTTC) to undertake administration of all Pre-service Teacher Training.
• To resolve overlapping mandate in Quality Assurance and Standards function in Basic Education, transfer the Quality Assurance and Standards functions at TSC to the Ministry of Education. In addition, strengthen the Directorate of Quality Assurance and Standards at the State Department of Basic Education.
• In order to attract, develop and retain effective teachers, there be a one-year mandatory retooling program for all graduates of pre-service training to be CBC-compliant; and a one-year mandatory internship program upon completion of pre-service training before being registered into the teaching profession.
• Implement a minimum essential package to cushion schools with enrolment below the optimum level. The recommended amounts are Ksh. 70,200 for Pre-Primary; Ksh.537,120 for Primary level; Ksh. 2,030,805 for Junior School; Ksh. 3,041,145 for Senior School; and Ksh. 1,890,000 for Special Needs Education.
• Implement revised capitation in view of the realities of CBC as follows: Ksh 1,170 for Pre-Primary; Ksh. 2,238 for Primary level; Ksh. 15,043 for Junior School;Ksh. 22,527 for Senior School (Day); Ksh. 19,800 for SNE (Day) and Ksh. 38,280 for SNE (Boarding);and consider increasing the grant for ACE. The capitation and grants to be reviewed every three years.
• Co-ordinate the management of bursaries and scholarships under the Kenya Basic Education Bursaries and Scholarship Council as a successor to the Jomo Kenyatta Foundation.
• The Ministry of Education to develop guidelines for accelerated education programs for marginalised groups, learners with special needs and adult and continuing education, to enhance equitable access and inclusion.
• Institutionalise linkages of TVETs with industries and government projects; and develop pathways for continuity between TVET and Universities and vice versa.
• Adopt a sustainable financing model for University education that combines grants/scholarship, loans and household contributions for differentiated categories of students as vulnerable, extremely needy, needy and less needy in order to address equitable access and inclusion in education.
• Enact the proposed Tertiary Education Placement and Funding Bill to amalgamate HELB, UFB and TVET Fund to enhance efficiency in higher education funding.
• National Government and County Governments to develop a financing framework for ring-fencing resources for VTCs.
• The Government to operationalise the Open University in Kenya with the first cohort of students being admitted in September, 2023.
• To strengthen governance of the University sector, undertake amendments to the Universities Act to amongst others, exclude Public Service Commission(PSC) in the appointment process of Chancellors, provide for a selection panel in the appointment of Chancellors and Council members, and empower Councils to be responsible for appointment of Vice-Chancellors and other top management of Universities.
• Institutionalise environmental conservation and climate change action in all learning institutions.
• Introduce a mandatory three (3)months community service programme for graduates of Senior School before joining Tertiary institutions and a further nine (9)months of mandatory community service after completion of Tertiary education. A certificate of compliance to the community service to be issued as proof before admission into the world of work.
• Government of Kenya to develop internal capacity of KNEC to print national assessments.