Primary schools prepare to host JSS as Ministry of Education starts assessment
Primary schools across the country are continuing preparations for the transition of Grade Seven learners under the Competence Based Curriculum (CBC) before schools reopen by the end of this month.
The Ministry of Education on the other hand has begun assessing the primary schools’ capacity to host junior secondary schools (JSS) stating that primary schools that lack the capacity to domicile junior secondary schools will not be allowed to host the Grade 7 students.
The ministry stated that it will instead transfer the students to neighbouring institutions.
“Primary schools with an enrollment of less than 45 learners or those lacking the basic facilities to host a JSS will serve as feeder schools to other JSSs within a two-kilometre proximity. In geographically expansive, low density and insecurity prone areas, as well as for learners with special needs and disability, the government will implement affirmative action regardless of the enrolments,” read a circular by the ministry.
However, parents have expressed concern that schools may not be ready for transition by the end of this month.
Through their chairperson Silas Obuhatsa, they asked the government to postpone school reopening to ensure there is adequate infrastructure first.
“The government has the right to postpone school for one or two months to have these structures in place before learning can resume,” he said.
Different options have been mulled by the government to ensure a smooth transition for the 1,268,830 learners who had enrolled in Grade 6 last year.
The options include converting already existing classrooms into labs, allowing students in junior secondary schools and fast tracking the building of new labs in primary schools.
In May last year, former Education Cabinet Secretary George Magoha said only 1,500 primary schools had been authorized to host JSS because they had adequate learning and teaching facilities and land for physical expansion.
While addressing the issue of shortage of teachers in the country, President Ruto said that the governmet had given TSC the latitude to decide the number of teachers needed to help the Grade Seven transition.
He pledged to have 30,000 teachers employed this year and another 110,000 in the next five years.
