The Ministry of Education (MoE) has started a two-week multi-agency approach to assess the country’s 32,594 primary schools’ capacity to host Junior Secondary Schools (JSS).
This is also set to inform the decision to register them for Junior Secondary School (JSS).
The team is scheduled to carry out the exercise between the 9th and the 20th of January 2023.
The team will, among others, check on the type of school, whether it is boys, girls or mixed, day and boarding, and regular or special needs; whether it is registered on the National Education Management Information System (NEMIS), Headteacher Qualification including management training and teaching and non-teaching staff’s availability.
“The interim report of the Presidential Working Party on Education Reforms recommended domiciling of the JSS in existing Primary Schools. Consequently, President Ruto directed the Ministry of Education to develop guidelines to operationalize Junior Secondary Education,” read the registration guidelines.
County Directors of Education have been instructed to prepare and submit a detailed report to the Director General – Education on the readiness of Primary Schools to admit JSS learners and proposed JSS feeder schools, the distance, and capacity of the nearest Primary School by January 23, 2023.
According to the registration guidelines JSS Feeder Schools are Primary School that does not have enrolment and/or infrastructural capacity to domicile a JSS.
In such a scenario, the government through the MoE shall transfer the learners to a neighboring JSS or implement appropriate affirmative action to ensure 100 percent transition.
This means that schools that will not meet the set requirements and sanitation facilities, land and validity of the title deed, furniture, and availability of a room that can be equipped for sciences will not be approved to domicile a JSS.
Space for agriculture projects and the necessary farm tools, a room that can be equipped with tools for pre-technical studies, water availability, and the reliability of power supply are some of the other requirements for a primary school to host a JSS.