First things first, wishing success to all the Grade 4 learners who will be undertaking their first School-Based Assessment (SBA) under the new Competency-Based Curriculum (CBC) on Monday next week.

This year’s Grade 4 is the pioneer class of recently launched 2-6-3-3-3 education system under the CBC. This assessment, together with all other prerequisites put in place by the government, affirms its commitment to ensure the gradual phase out of the old 8-4-4 system is a success.

The Assessment

Firstly, the test will be administered by the Kenya National Examination Council (KNEC), and will constitute 20 marks for both regular (age-based) and stage-based (special needs) learners. The learners will be required to sit two other tests I.e. in Grade 5 and Grade 6. The School-Based Assessments will cumulatively constitute 60%. The final national exams will cater for the remaining 40%.

The Logistics of the assessment

According to KNEC, the material to be used in completing the School-Based Assessment tasks will be improvised by the schools within the immediate environment. Teachers will administer and mark the tests. In this regard, KNEC directs schools to download the School Based Assessment tools, administer to learners, and score. Further, the schools are required to upload the scores of each learner to the KNEC Competency Based Assessment portal by 19^th March of this year.