NAIROBI, Kenya — The Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development (KICD) has announced sweeping changes to the Competency-Based Curriculum (CBC), reducing the number of subjects across multiple learning stages in an effort to ease content overload and improve classroom delivery. The reforms, communicated through a circular issued to regional and county education officials, follow recommendations from the Presidential Working Party on Education Reform (PWPER). Basic Education Principal Secretary Belio Kipsang said the adjustments were reached after extensive consultations with the Ministry of Education and are intended to simplify learning, reduce pressure on teachers and learners, and create a more coherent curriculum structure ahead of the January opening.
The biggest changes affect Lower Primary, Upper Primary and Junior School, where subjects have been merged and others restructured to reduce repetition and streamline competencies. Under the new framework, Lower Primary learning areas drop from nine to seven, while Upper Primary reduces from ten to eight subjects. Several learning areas have been integrated: Agriculture and Home Science will now be taught as Agriculture and Nutrition, while Creative Arts has been consolidated to include Art, Craft, Music and Physical Education. Junior School sees the most drastic rationalisation, moving from fourteen subjects to nine, all of which will become core and compulsory. Integrated Science will absorb Health Education, Social Studies will combine with Life Skills, while Pre-Technical Studies, Computer Studies and Business Studies are merged into one technical learning area. Indigenous and foreign languages, meanwhile, will shift to non-formal programmes and will not be examined.
The curriculum overhaul has been welcomed by some education stakeholders who say it will reduce workload and eliminate duplication in content, though others caution that schools will need clear guidance and adequate teaching materials to adjust smoothly. The PS confirmed that revised curriculum designs will be available on the KICD website and distributed to schools during the first term of 2024. As Senior School reforms continue to be finalised, the ministry says further guidance will be provided early in the new year. The changes come just weeks before the first cohort of Junior School learners transitions to Grade 7, marking a crucial phase in CBC implementation—and a moment the government hopes will set a more manageable and effective learning pathway for millions of Kenyan children.