As the country prepares to transition the pioneer class of the Competency-Based Education (CBE) to Senior School in January 2026, journalists should provide more news related to the career pathways, school selection, and subject combinations to enlighten the parents and their children.
In the story, ‘Geography, business studies most popular subjects in Senior School,’ published on June 25, 2025, the Daily Nation newspaper quoted head of the Directorate of Secondary Education William Sugut as saying, electricity, woodwork and metal work attracted the least number of CBE pioneer students expected to join Senior Secondary at Grade 10 next year.
“Geography and business studies are the most preferred subjects by learners in Grade Nine for study in Grade 10 (Senior School), next year,” the Nation reported.
In the new system, learners are required to select subject combinations to fit in the three pathways in Senior School: Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM), Social Sciences, and Arts and Sports. Geography and business studies are categorised under Social Sciences.
Journalists need to investigate why the majority of Grade 9 learners chose geography and business studies, and the career paths determined by the two subjects.
It is also important to reveal why learners might have avoided the three technical subjects, at a time the country is seeking more professionals for development and to industrialise. Did they make their choice out of what they understood to be the best, based on their full potential?
In the story, ‘Senior School guidelines and selection pathways released,’ published on June 9, 2025, the Nation reported the outgoing Teachers Service Commission’s chief executive officer Nancy Macharia as saying the first CBE cohort joining senior secondary should be adequately prepared to understand which pathways align with their aspirations, abilities, and career goals.
Senior schools serve as pre-career phase, where students make informed choices based on their strengths and aspirations. Therefore all learners should be placed in environments where their academic potential, interests and talents can be nurtured.
How much do the young learners, who are the first to graduate from junior secondary to senior secondary, know about their career paths?
Unlike the previous system where candidates chose secondary schools before sitting the examination, in the CBE system, it is career pathways that determine the learners’ choice of school.
Journalists should keep an eye on how the students placement will play out in the pioneer group of CBE system during Grade 10 selection, as this will serve as the lesson for stakeholders’ preparedness.
The Nation reported Dr Sugut as saying that although 9,606 senior schools had already selected subject combinations, 1,369 of them lacked laboratories, but that government was looking into their equipping.
Based on the above information, journalists need to find out from the Ministry of Education, how many institutions in the country have prepared STEM infrastructure to absorb learners into science and technology oriented courses, and their countrywide distribution.
This is critical, bearing in mind that, from Grade 10, a learner’s career path should accelerate towards their professional focus area, and any deficiency of career path opportunities could detail a learner’s career choice.
For clarity, journalists should find out from the Ministry of Education, the number of learners who currently fit in each of the three career paths, and if the ministry has mapped out the resources demanded for them in terms of budget allocation once they join Senior School.
Journalists can use this information for public analysis of the future career and professional workforce based on the CBE system. Apart from the lack of laboratories in a significant number of senior schools, the ministry further says only national schools have the capacity to admit learners in all three career pathways.
This might affect the learners’ school choices in terms of distance, with parents bearing the consequences of fewer choices to select from. Journalists should also interview parents of the pioneer Grade 10, and other players, for their views about the method of school selection.
