Boarding secondary schools could be converted today schools once the implementation of the Competency-Based Curriculum (CBC) is in place in junior secondary schools come 2023.
In a bid to solve the issues that have plagued the Ministry of Education in the current system of education, students under the CBC are set to attend junior secondary day schools within one or two kilometres from their former primary schools in the rural areas.
“Designated day secondary schools will be important in the transition to secondary education with the exception of arid areas which have long distances of commuting and inadequate sub-county schools,” read part of the report that is intended to eliminate the problems that the education sector is facing at the moment.
The report was formulated by a task force chaired by Principal Secretary Fatuma Chege which was released in December 2020. However, it is only recently that the report was made public. The report is called “Taskforce Report on Enhancing Access, Relevance, Transition, Equity, and Quality for Effective Curriculum Reform Implementation.”
The CBC’s first-ever class will be joining a junior secondary school with the report suggesting all students attend days schools that are in their neighbourhood for junior and primary-secondary schools.
The report points to cases like that of Shanghai, China with this being a success story that the task force has adopted. The initiative of students attending schools in their neighbourhood has been dubbed “Neighborhood Attendance.”
The Neighborhood Attendance initiative directs students not to attend schools in their neighbourhood instead of competing for limited vacancies at famous schools.
The advantages include the convenience of access, narrowing the gender gap, reducing wastage both financially and education-wise and lowering the cost of education on households.
The new plan could lead to primary school facilities that have been under-utilized could be used in building new secondary schools.
This means that some boarding schools might be converted to host junior secondary schools. In case you are wondering about the dormitories, they will also be converted to become classes.
Due to the above changes, Fatuma Chege has instructed county directors of education to map out day secondary schools and primary schools within their jurisdiction. This will help in deciding which schools will be converted and which ones will stay as day schools.
According to the report, learning institutions that have less infrastructure will be boosted to compete with those that have better infrastructure.
The report also reveals that in the new changes, all schools will be considered equal. The report emphasizes the importance of inclusive education, which also includes the integration of special needs students into regular classroom settings.
The report states that junior secondary school learners are supposed to attend day schools.
The involvement of parents in their children’s upbringing is the main reason behind the suggested changes. Constant contact with parents has seen a huge part in eliminating the student unrest cases that have been experienced in schools.
The 2008 World Bank report on education reveals that day schools are the main way of ensuring access to education.
It is notable that schools are difficult to build and run.
However, students who may not be able to get to today schools within reasonable distances of their homes may be allowed to join boarding secondary schools.
The Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development (KICD) recommended that the age of students who are supposed to join the junior secondary school is between the age of 12 and 14.
The task force argues in their report that learners are at a crucial part of their growth at this age and experience rapid physical, emotional and psychological development during this period.