30,000 CBE Teachers Set for Mandatory December Retraining for Grade 10 Transition
More than 30,000 teachers across secondary schools, Special Needs Education (SNE) institutions and vocational training centres will undergo mandatory retraining next month as the Ministry of Education accelerates preparations for the transition of 1.1 million learners from Grade 9 to Grade 10 in January 2026.
The large-scale retooling programme, scheduled to run from December 1 to December 19, 2025, will involve educators from 9,626 institutions and will cover all 55 learning areas under the Competency-Based Education (CBE) Senior School framework. It also includes training across the three specialised pathways introduced under senior school: STEM, Social Sciences, and Arts and Sports Science.
In a circular to teachers, Dr Reuben Nthamburi, the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) Director for Teacher Professional Management, confirmed that the training will be conducted face-to-face in selected venues across the country.
“TSC has planned the retooling of senior school teachers in Competency-Based Education from December 1 to December 19, 2025. The retooling will be done face-to-face in selected suitable venues and procured venues in the counties,”
said Dr Nthamburi.
New Senior School Subjects
Under the new CBE Senior School structure, learners are required to take seven subjects, four of which will be compulsory: English, Kiswahili, Core/Essential Mathematics, and Community Service Learning (CSL).
Optional subjects span a wide range of disciplines, including: Music and Dance, Theatre and Film, Business Studies, Home Science, Computer Studies, Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Agriculture, General Science, Media Technology, Aviation, Building Construction, Electricity, Metalwork, Woodwork and Marine and Fisheries Technology.
According to the Ministry of Education, the refresher training is intended to align teachers with the specialised pathways that learners will choose based on their talents, interests and performance.
Multi-Agency Team to Support Training
The sessions will be spearheaded by the Teachers Service Commission and delivered through a smart cascade model. Expert teams will be drawn from the Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development (KICD), Kenya National Examination Council (KNEC), CEMASTEA, Teachers Training Colleges, KISE, and the Ministry of Education.
Training will be residential for teachers from Arid and Semi-Arid Lands (ASAL) regions and those teaching in SNE institutions. Educators will be clustered by pathway specialisation, including areas such as Hearing Impairment and Visual Impairment.
TSC Chairperson Jamleck Muturi, speaking at the Kenya Primary School Heads Association (Kepsha) conference in Mombasa, said the December exercise aims to cover the last remaining group of teachers who have not yet completed CBE training.
“We have done a lot of retooling to support CBE. So far, we have trained more than 300,000 teachers, and the remaining about 10 per cent will be trained in December,”
Mr Muturi said.
The TSC is targeting 428 SNE schools and 370 vocational SNE institutions for stage-based curriculum training. Teachers from private institutions have also been invited to participate.
Infrastructure Race: 1,600 New Laboratories Ordered
The retraining push comes amid concerns over infrastructure readiness ahead of the January 2026 transition.
On November 18, 2025, President William Ruto directed the Ministry of Education to fast-track the construction of 1,600 new science laboratories, particularly in remote regions, to support practical learning for STEM subjects.
“My instruction to the Ministry is to expand laboratories by another 1,600, especially in remote areas. It is not right that a student comes to do an exam in a laboratory for the first time they are entering one,”
President Ruto said, stressing the need for equity in learning environments.
The President also confirmed that universities will admit their first cohort of Competency-Based Education and Training (CBET) graduates in 2029, marking a key milestone in the country’s shift to competency-based learning.
Education stakeholders, including Kepsha and the Kenya Human Rights Commission (KHRC), have warned that without rapid construction, schools in rural areas risk lagging behind urban institutions.
“Some schools, especially in rural areas, lack laboratories, which are crucial for CBE. We want equity — a child in a rural area must get the same education as one in an urban area,”
said KHRC’s Cornelius Oduor.
Placement and Senior School Categories
Placement into Senior School will depend on learners’ preferred pathway, subject choices and academic performance. More than half of all KJSEA candidates have opted for the STEM pathway, while 437,000 learners have chosen Social Sciences and 124,000 have selected Arts and Sports.
Kenya’s 9,603 public secondary schools have been categorised based on their capacity and infrastructure:
- C1 (National Schools): Offer all three pathways — STEM, Social Sciences, and Arts and Sports.
- C2 (Extra County), C3 (County), C4 (Sub-County/Day Schools): Offer fewer options depending on facilities.
The December retooling programme is expected to play a decisive role in ensuring that Senior Schools are adequately staffed and ready to meet the demands of CBE when the new cohort joins in January 2026.
30,000 CBE Teachers Set for Mandatory December Retraining for Grade 10 Transition