Kenya’s proposed overhaul of the curriculum body’s leadership, mandate, and governing council is now open for public input through September 25
Kenya’s National Assembly is considering a bill that would reshape how the Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development (KICD) is run and what it’s responsible for — and this week, ordinary Kenyans began having their say in it.
Public Participation Now Underway
A nationwide public participation exercise on the Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development (Amendment) Bill, 2026 and five companion education bills kicked off on September 14 with hearings scheduled across 31 counties, running until September 25, 2026.
The process is being led by the National Assembly’s Departmental Committee on Education, chaired by Tinderet MP Julius Melly, and is grounded in Article 118(1)(b) of the Constitution, which requires Parliament to facilitate public participation in its legislative business.
The rollout is moving county by county:
- September 14: Tana River, Uasin Gishu, Kilifi and Elgeyo-Marakwet
- September 15: Mombasa, Trans Nzoia, Kwale and Kakamega
- Coming up: Kisumu, Makueni, Taita Taveta and Homa Bay
- Then: Machakos, Kisii, Embu and Kericho
- Then: Meru, Narok, Kirinyaga and Kajiado
- September 21: Wajir and Turkana
- Later: Kiambu, Nakuru, Murang’a, Baringo and other remaining counties
- September 25 (final session): Parliament Buildings, Nairobi, 10:00 AM to 5:30 PM
Exact dates for several of the middle rounds haven’t been published yet — Parliament has confirmed the order of counties but not every specific day — so anyone planning to attend should check Parliament’s Facebook page or parliament.go.ke closer to the date for their county.
Kenyans who can’t attend in person still have a voice: the committee has invited stakeholders unable to attend to submit written memoranda to the Clerk of the National Assembly, or by email to cna@parliament.go.ke, by 5:00 PM on September 24, 2026 — a day ahead of the closing Nairobi session.
The KICD bill isn’t traveling alone. It’s one of six education reform proposals — alongside the Tertiary Education, Placement and Funding Bill; the Pre-Service Education and In-Service Training Bill, 2026; the Basic Education (Amendment) Bill, 2026; the Kenya National Educational Assessments Council Bill, 2026; and the Kenya National Qualifications Framework (Amendment) Bill, 2026 — all being reviewed together as part of a broader push to overhaul Kenya’s education sector, from university funding and teacher training to national assessments and curriculum policy.
Out with “Director,” in with “Chief Executive Officer”
The most visible change threaded through nearly every clause of the KICD bill is a wholesale rebranding: the “Director” position — currently a five-year appointed role — becomes the “Chief Executive Officer,” with a shortened four-year term.
This isn’t just a title swap; it touches the sections governing appointment, removal, committee leadership, and even who can authenticate official documents under the Institute’s seal.
Narrowing the Institute’s Focus Away from Tertiary Education
A recurring edit throughout the bill strips references to “tertiary education and training” from KICD’s functions, replacing them with “teacher education and training.”
In practice, this narrows the Institute’s formal mandate — it steps back from post-secondary curriculum work generally and instead sharpens its focus on training teachers themselves.
The bill also deletes the existing legal definition of “tertiary” altogether, and adds two new defined terms: “accreditation” (the process of recognizing qualified curriculum developers) and “differentiation” (adapting materials for learners with special needs).
A Bigger, More Institutional Governing Council
The bill significantly reworks the composition of KICD’s governing Council. The old Council leaned on ministry representatives and appointees chosen at the Cabinet Secretary’s discretion.
The new version instead seats the heads of specific institutions directly — including the CEOs of the Kenya National Educational Assessments Council, the Kenya Institute of Special Education, and the Kenya Teachers’ Training College, plus the Secretary to the Teachers Service Commission.
It also formalizes seats for public and private university representatives, with one private-sector seat specifically reserved for someone from a private university.
Committees Streamlined, Academic Committee Abolished
Perhaps the biggest structural change is the elimination of the Academic Committee — a body that, under current law, must have 13 to 23 members drawn from a long list of stakeholders (unions, employer federations, religious umbrella bodies, parents’ associations, and more).
The bill repeals the section establishing it entirely. In its place, the Council gets broader, simpler discretion to set up whatever committees or panels it needs, though it’s explicitly barred from delegating its core mandate to them.
A new transitional clause ensures that any pending business before the old Academic Committee carries over to the Council automatically.
Other Notable Tweaks
- Decentralization language softened: The Institute will now “decentralise its services” to counties rather than “devolve its functions” — a subtle but deliberate wording shift.
- Accreditation power shifts: Regulations on accrediting curriculum developers will now be made by the Cabinet Secretary in consultation with the Council, rather than by the Council alone.
- Quality control on curriculum review: An amendment clarifies that the Institute’s role in reviewing curriculum proposals is specifically limited to basic education.
Why It Matters
According to the bill’s own memorandum, the changes are meant to “streamline the operations of the Institute,” and lawmakers state it won’t require new public spending or infringe on constitutional rights.
But the practical effect is a KICD that is more centralized in the hands of institutional leaders rather than ad hoc committees, more sharply focused on basic and teacher education rather than the broader tertiary space, and led by a “CEO” rather than a “Director.”
With public hearings running county by county through September 25, the fate — and possibly the final wording — of these changes will depend partly on what stakeholders, teachers’ unions, and ordinary Kenyans say in the coming days.
The bill was tabled by Kimani Ichung’wah, Leader of the Majority Party, and originally published on 24th July, 2026.
