11 March 2016

Delegation from Kenyan Ministry of Education, Science and Technology (MoEST) and UNICEF Kenya visited Addis Ababa on 11 March 2016. A meeting was held among the delegates and staff of UNESCO IICBA, during which participants discussed about Kenya’s needs and challenges in education and a joint teachers training programme in north-eastern part of the country.

Delegates from Kenyan MoEST included Dr. Julius Jwan, CEO/Director of Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development, Mr. Habat Sheikh Abdi, Director of Basic Education, and Mr. Pius Kimani Mutisya, Director of Education Standards Quality Assurance Council (ESQAC). UNICEF Kenya Country Representative Dr. Pirkko Heinonen and Chief of Education Outcome Group Dr. Daniel Baheta visited IICBA together with the MoEST officials.

Kenya is currently reforming its national curriculum to be inclusive and competency-based, with extensive capacity building for teachers in need. The country is also devoted in integrating ICT in education, expecting that trained teachers would effectively deliver the new curriculum with ICT enhancement. Meanwhile, insecurity in north-eastern Kenya has caused more than 1,000 teachers to leave their positions, leaving around 300,000 children in the area out of school.

In order to improve the situation, UNICEF Kenya and UNESCO IICBA are currently collaborating with the MoEST on a special programme of school-based teacher training in Garrissa, Mandera and Wajir counties of north-eastern Kenya. The programme aims to enrol the newly recruited local teachers through accelerated school-based teacher trainings to support their professional development and enhance quality of teaching and learning. UNESCO IICBA will provide technical backstopping in the activities.