MoE to Publish Rules for Joining Junior Secondary in Two Weeks
In two weeks the Ministry of Education is set to publish guidelines that schools will use in admitting learners to junior secondary school (JSS).
According to the Principal Secretary for Curriculum Implementation, Fatuma Chege, the rules will act as a guide on the transition and implementation of the Competency-Based Curriculum (CBC) in JSS.
According to Prof Chege, once the “administrative processes” have been completed, the documents will be published and the public will know how the transition to junior secondary school will be done.
There will be a double intake of learners in the secondary level next year with the pioneer CBC class and class 8 candidates all moving to secondary school.
CBC learners will sit for their first Kenya Primary Education Assessment (KPSEA) this November.
The KPSEA will be a summative assessment weighted at 40 per cent which will add to the 60 per cent formative assessments that they did in Grades 4, 5 and 6.
According to Prof Chege, transition committees will be formed at various levels in county, sub-county and in schools.
Committee members will be trained using the tools and structures provided in the document.
“They will work to ensure that the transition is a corporate activity,” said Chege adding that the committees will conceptualize and recommend integration to avoid creating demarcation between learners in the 8-4-4 and CBC systems.
The PS implored parents to enrol their children in JSS as day scholars adding that boarding schools will add sections to allow this to happen.
In addition, the PS revealed that the committees will rationalize the capacity of teachers and that TSC should consider addressing shortages in various areas. According to her such teachers can teach in more than one school. Chege also urged principals to familiarize themselves with the CBC curriculum designs and identify and publicize the optional subjects that their schools offer.
The CBC laid bare the need for the construction of new classrooms and the government moved to address the infrastructural gaps by building 10,000 classrooms in secondary schools with 6,497 units completed in the first phase.
The Cabinet Secretary for Education Prof George Magoha also asked Private schools to set up JSS sections to add to the government’s efforts in constructing CBC classes.
Magoha also revealed that the Ministry of Education will place JSS in some private schools and implored parents who have children in private schools to retain them there to continue with the JSS.
On their part, owners and directors of private schools promised the government that they will support the running of the JSS and that they have already begun improving their infrastructure to accommodate CBC learners.
Speaking at the annual Kenya Private Schools Association (KPSA) conference in Mombasa, where 1,000 owners of private schools met, the KPSA Chairperson said that they are trying to find new ways and solutions to overcoming the challenges that have come about from the CBC.
However, some private school owners complained that they are facing financial challenges due to the low enrolment of pupils as parents prefer to admit their children to either public or international schools.
Regarding the training of teachers on the CBC, the KPSA officials revealed that they will collaborate with TSC on it. It has also been revealed that some schools are already doing this.
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