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Belio said the Grade 9 assessment is purely to make sure that learners are not prevented from transitioning to Senior School.
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"It is just preparing our kids for the next level," the PS said.
Image: LEAH MUKANGAI
Basic Education Principal Secretary Belio Kipsang has noted that the Grade 12 Assessment will be used to place a learner into a tertiary institution while that of Grade 9 will only be used to transition.
Belio said the Grade 9 assessment will help learners decide which career pathway they will opt for as they go into Senior School in Grade 10.
"At Grade 12, the assessment will be for both placement and certification. But that of Grade 9 is purely transition. You are moving from one level to the next and you are all aware we are on 100 per cent transition," he said.
Learners will have three career pathways to choose from once they transition to Senior School starting from Grade 10.
The three career pathways are Science, Technology Engineering and Mathematics (STEM), Social Sciences commonly known as humanities and the final one is performing arts, music and athletics.
Belio spoke on Wednesday when he officiated a stakeholder’s engagement on Senior School and Teacher Education at the Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development in Nairobi.
He said assessment for Grade 9 learners will be both formative and summative.
"We shall have an assessment which is both formative and summative. Just like we have had KPSEA for Grade 6 which is both formative and summative, the same will be in Grade 9," he said.
According to the recommendation by the Presidential Working Party on Education reforms, the Grade 9 summative assessment will make up 60 per cent of a learner's final score.
The remaining 40 per cent will be from formative assessments at the end of Grades 7 and 8, each making up 20 per cent of their final mark.
Belio said the Grade 9 assessment is purely to make sure that learners are not prevented from transitioning to Senior School.
"It is just preparing our kids for the next level," the PS said.
Belio said it is at Grade 12 that the assessment will be for both placement and certification.
"After Grade 12 you will get a certificate which will prepare you either to progress to the next level or make you move to start a certain aspect of life like going into the police force," Belio said.
The Presidential Working Party had recommended that the final assessment at Grade 12 constitute 70 per cent of the total score. While the remaining 30 per cent come from school assessments.
The Grade 12 assessment will be the only one used under CBC to place a learner in another institution.
Further, Belio rubbished any possibilities of having Grade 9 domiciled in Senior School.
"93 per cent of Kenyans decided through the PWERE that we are domiciling Junior Schools in Primary schools and we shall live as per the expectations of Kenyans. There is no window to change what 93 per cent of Kenyans already decided," he said.