The government on Tuesday announced its intention to scrap boarding schools for pupils in Grades I to 9 next year.

Basic Education Principal Secretary Belio Kipsang says the drastic decision by the government is meant to encourage parents to better engage with their children at home.

The Basic Education PS made the announcement when he officially opened the 18th Kenya Primary School Heads Association (KEPSHA) in Mombasa County.

"As we move forward, day schooling will be the direction because that is the only way we shall be able to engage with our children. The first years of our learning between grade 1 and 9, the direction government will be taking is day schooling," Kipsang said.

He added: “We need to start socialising ourselves that we need to be with our children and the only way for that to happen is to be in the day school environment.”

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He argued that by allowing children to stay at home with their parents, they will better play their role of co-parenting with the teachers to instill the values the parents need in them.

The PS noted that Kenyan currently among countries with the highest number of students enrolled in boarding schools at 28 per cent, compared to the global neutral of 15 per cent.


“28 per cent of our children are in boarding schools. Globally, rarely would you get any country that goes beyond 15 per cent even in the African setup. Ours is the highest anywhere," he revealed.

The Kenya government is taking steps to ensure a smooth transition to the Competency-Based Curriculum (CBC) through the 2-6-3-3-3 curriculum that is replacing the 8-4-4 system.

In the new curriculum that is the replacing 8-4-4, which was established by the late President Daniel Moi in 1985, pupils will learn from Grade 1 to Grade 12.