• First batch of Grade 6 will sit Kenya Certificate of Basic Education (KCBE) in November, 2022 and join Junior Secondary School in January 2023.
• 2021 KCPE candidates will transit to Form Two in January 2023.
Image: ANDREW KASUKU
Schools will in a few weeks reopen for the first term of the reviewed 2022 academic calendar but confusion is evident among some parents on how learners will transition to the next class or Grade.
"Compared to 8-4-4, I love CBC. It is engaging and kids love it a lot. The problem is confusing terms; we are used to January to December as the school year," Fatma, the mother to a Grade 1 pupil said.
Fatma is not alone. Eunice, a mother to twin girls currently in Grade 5 awaiting to join Grade 6 is in a similar predicament.
"As a parent to incoming Grade 6 children, I'm clueless on what will happen to the kids at the end of the year," Eunice said.
"Will the transition happen in their current primary schools or in high schools? she posed.
Fatma and Eunice are just two among thousands of other parents who may yet be conversant with how and when learners will transition from one class to the other or one grade to the other.
Most parents are used to the January-November academic year, but with the advent of the Covid-19 pandemic in March 2020, schools were closed and the normal school calendar was disrupted.
The 2020 national exams were re-slotted to March 2021, while the 2021 KCPE and KCSE exams were sat in March 2022.
KCSE exams started on Monday, March 14 and will end on April 1. Three weeks later, schools will reopen on April 25, marking the start of the 2022 academic year under the reorganized school calendar.
To help Fatma, Eunice and all other parents who may still be struggling to figure out what will happen next, below are a breakdown of how the transition will pan out before the normal school calendar resumes in January 2023.
Term One of 2022
The 2022 term one will run for 10 weeks between April 25 and July 1.
There will be a ten-day break before learners resume studies for term two, which will run for ten weeks from July 11 to September 16.
Learners will thereafter break for ten days before resuming on September 26 for term three which will run for nine weeks until November 25, shortly before the start of the 2022 national exams.
This is how pupils will transit from April 25, 2022.
- Class eight (2021 KCPE candidates) will transit to Form one
- Class seven will transit to Class Eight
- Class six will transit to Class Seven
- Grade five will transit to Grade Six
- Grade four will transit to Grade Five
- Grade three will transit to Grade Four
- Grade two will transit to Grade Three
- Grade One transit to Grade Two
- PP2 transit to Grade One
- PP1 transit to PP2
- Playschool transit to PP1
Term Two of 2022
This will start on July 11 to September 16, 2022. The term will have 10 weeks. Learners will break for ten days before the start of term three on September 26, 2022.
Term Three of 2022
This will start on September 26 to November 25, 2022. This term will have 9 weeks.
Current class seven will sit their KCPE exams from November 28 to December 1, 2022. Current form three will sit their KCSE during this period.
Current Grade Five (who will now be in Grade 6) will sit for the first CBC National Assessment styled as the Kenya Certificate of Basic Education (KCBE).
This is the final assessment test that will usher the first batch of Grade 6 into Junior Secondary school in January 2023.
January 2023
The Academic Calendar will normalize in January 2023. At this time, the transition will be as follows:
- 2021 candidates who sat their KCPE exams in March 2022 will transit to Form Two.
- Current class seven who will sit their KCPE in November 2022 will join Form One.
- Current class six (who will join class seven in April 2022) will join class eight and will sit for KCPE at the end of 2023.
- Current Grade Five will transit to Junior Secondary School in January 2023 having sat their Grade 6 KCPE assessment in November 2022 to transit to Grade Seven. Under the competency-based curriculum (CBC), Grade seven is the first year of Junior Secondary education.
- Current Grade Four will be transiting from Grade five to Grade Six and sit for KCBE at the end of 2023.
- Current Grade three will be transiting to Grade Five in January 2023.
- Current Grade Two will be joining Grade Four.
- Current Grade One will be transiting to Grade Three.
- Current PP2 will be transiting to Grade Two.
- Current PP1 will be transiting to Grade One.
- Current Play School will be joining PP2 in January 2023.
For planning purposes, parents with children in the current class seven should be aware that by January 2023, their children will be joining Form One.
This is because, from April 25, class seven will transition to class eight and sit KCPE in November/December 2022.
Likewise, parents with children currently in Grade Five should be aware that their children will be joining Junior Secondary School in January 2023 after sitting their Grade Six Kenya Certificate of Basic Education (KCBE) in November 2022.