•The meeting was attended by over 10,000 secondary school principals from across the country.
•The one-week conference is the first such physical meeting since 2019.
Image: PSCU
President Uhuru Kenyatta met with Secondary School principals in Mombasa on Wednesday.
Uhuru presided over the official opening of the 45th Kenya Secondary Schools Heads Association (KESSHA) annual national conference.
The meeting was attended by over 10,000 secondary school principals from across the country.
The one-week conference is the first such physical meeting since 2019 after the Covid-19 pandemic that crippled the in-person meeting.
The discussion will be about the school's preparation to host the junior secondary school under the Competence-Based Curriculum.
This will be Uhuru’s last meeting with the secondary school heads as he prepares to exit office after the August 9 General Election.
The meeting will address the challenges in the implementation of the Competency-Based Curriculum (CBC).
This is as some 1.5 million learners, who are currently in Grade 5, will be transiting to Grade 6 in May. They are expected to sit their national examinations in November and join junior secondary schools in January next year.
CBC seeks to identify and nurture every learner's potential, to emphasize practical learning as opposed to theoretical teaching, to emphasize the application of knowledge and acquisition of competencies as opposed to routine memorization of content.
Other issues to be discussed during the Mombasa meeting include funding in public secondary schools, mental health challenges among teachers, and the unrest among secondary school students that rocked the nation last year.
The heads will also discuss how to continue keeping schools safer from Covid-19 disease.
During the event, President Uhuru told the school heads that his administration is focused on reforming the education system.
"To ensure no child is left behind due to their social-economic background, my government has increased capitation per child in secondary schools to Sh22,244," he said.
Further, he said that the government has partnered with Equity Group Foundation and awarded 9,000 scholarships for the 2019 KCPE candidates and an additional 9,000 scholarships for the 2020 candidates who joined Form 1 in July 2021.
Education CS George Magoha who was in attendance also lauded the schools' heads for their great job.
"I have never heard you pronounce something during the day and then change at night. That is why you are the ministers of Education. I am just your agent. I appreciate that. Those are some of the things I always insist on. The wisdom comes from you," Magoha said.