Magoha Seeks to Make PE Compulsory in Primary, Secondary Schools

Education Cabinet Secretary George Magoha is now seeking to make Physical Education (PE) compulsory in primary and secondary schools

All primary and secondary schools will be required to have sports clubs and committees to manage the teaching of physical education, according to a new government policy aimed at entrenching games as a critical component of the curriculum.

Magoha made the announcement at the Kenya Institute Of Curriculum Development (KICD) headquarters while launching the first-ever Physical Education and Sport Policy.

Schools will also be required to have teachers trained and regularly retrained to teach physical education under the new guidelines.

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In his speech on Wednesday, June 9, the no-nonsense CS said the policy was also aligned to the Competence-Based Curriculum (CBC)

“The implementation of Physical Education and Sport Policy will go a long way in promoting realization of national goals of education. It is also aligned to the Competence-Based Curriculum (CBC) which provides arts and sport as one of the career pathways,’’ said Magoha

Although physical education is currently taught in schools, it is taken casually by learners and teachers because it is elective, non-examinable and rarely enforced.

The former university don promised to work with all ministries and departments to ensure the new policy is implemented.

Under the new guidelines, both primary school and secondary schools will be required to have teachers trained and regularly retrained for physical education

The government’s effort to push physical education to be a top priority subject is likely to be frustrated by the fact that many schools do not have the infrastructure for sports, including playgrounds, equipment, and qualified trainers.

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Though the subject is timetabled, its slot is usually taken up by teachers eager to complete their syllabi for the examinable subjects and this is engendered by the fact that quality assurance officers rarely show any interest in it.

The Teachers Service Commission (TSC) now wants Kenyan universities to scrap the B.Ed. course as part of reforms intended to usher in the CBC