Grade 9 students across the country are expected to start selecting their career pathways from today. These students are the first batch to have undertaken the Competency Based Curriculum (CBC) and are seen as the pioneers of the system in all its stages.
The Grade 9 students are expect to choose their desired pathways through assistance from their parents and teachers. This is after the Ministry of Education (MoE) rolled out comprehensive guidelines for the transition of the students to senior school in the upcoming 2026 academic year.
The selection of the career pathways shall be done through the government platform selection.education.go.ke. The selection process will run from June 9 to June 30, 2025.
The pathways that are up for selection include social sciences, arts and sports, and science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). Mathematics, English, Kiswahili will remain compulsory just as they were in the old 8-4-4 curriculum. However, the ministry has added community service into the docket of compulsory subjects.
The Ministry of Education has already provided a step-by-step guideline through a circular to all regional county and sub-county directors of education. According to the circular, headteachers of junior schools will have to log in using their institution’s Unique Identification Code (UIC) credentials.
After logging in, they will access the list of Grade 9 learners, update each student’s profile, select the desired pathway for each learned and proceed to select three subject combinations.
The circular states that for each combination selected, four schools shall be chosen in four clusters for a total of 12 schools; four for their first choice, four for their second, four for their third, and four for their fourth. Learners will take seven subjects, four of which are compulsory.
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On the other end, senior school principals will have to log in using their institution’s UIC credentials, declare their Grad 10 capacity and select the subject combinations for at least two pathways. According to the ministry, in this step, STEM shall be compulsory and each subject must contain a minimum of 15 learners.
The Sub-County Director of Education will approve or reject subject combinations. If subject combinations have been rejected, the senior school principal responsible will be required to delete and reselect new combinations.
