History of 2-6-3-3-3 Education System in Kenya
The moribund 8-4-4 Education System in Kenya had a good vision for the Kenyan people during its inception in 1985. It was introduced by the then President of Kenya Daniel Toroitich Arap Moi with the purpose of equipping our students with hands-on-skills to become job creators and not job seekers. History of 2-6-3-3-3 Education System in Kenya.
This saw subjects like Art and Craft, Music, Home Science, Agriculture etc get introduced in the syllabus. This was to mould the citizenry for the Jua Kali industries that were seen as the drivers of emerging economies such as China.
Several years down the line, Education advisers, in their own intelligence, postulated that these many subjects in the 8-4-4 education system were over-burdening the school going child. They saw it fit to mutilate the then noble idea and scrapped off all those technical subjects.
This led to the collapse of most Technical Training Colleges in Kenya. The recent move by the Government to establish Technical Training Colleges has faced the wrath of the mutilated 8-4-4 system where by little or no students are enrolling there. Most student wanted to get employed.
All these challenges in 8-4-4 Education System in Kenya reawakened the education experts who in between 2011 and 2012 came up with the proposed 2-6-3-3-3 Education System in Kenya with a view to seal the loop-holes of the 8-4-4 system and also align the Education Sector in Kenya to International Standards.
At that time parent supported the idea but most teachers opposed it. They said the 2-6-3-3-3 Education System in Kenya was very expensive to sustain and that money should instead be used to equip the schools and remunerate the teaching staff.
Amid that acrimony, the idea was shelved until 2015 when the government revived the idea through parliament and this time round the 2-6-3-3-3 Education System in Kenya is going to see the light of day.
The 2-6-3-3-3 Education System in Kenya will accommodate other disciplines such as technical work, self employment and wealth creation. If well strategized and implemented, Kenyan students will gain more from it but if the system is just overhauled for the sake of it, without proper structure and planning, then we will still be singing to the same song, only to a different tune.
