Tetu Member of Parliament Geffrey Wandeto has welcomed a report by the Presidential Working Party on Education Reforms that recommended Junior Secondary School (JSS) learners be domiciled in Primary Schools.
Wandeto noted that despite fears by parents and education stakeholders over the uncertainty on the matter, the committee has settled the issue paving way for Grade Six learners to continue with their studies in their former schools.
The lawmaker has nevertheless lamented over the delay by the Ministry of Education in clarifying the matter saying the delay only managed to heighten uncertainty over the fate of Grade Six learners once their Kenya Primary School Education Assessment (KPSEA) results are finally out.
“It’s unfortunate that we have gone through this Competency Based Curriculum journey without some very important clarity on transition to Junior Secondary School. The whole of this year, parents have been asking whether their children are going to secondary school as we know them or whether they are going to stay in their current primary schools after transition to Grade seven,” Wandeto said.
“But it is good news that we have clarity that came last week that Grade Six (pupils)will transit to Grade seven within the same existing schools and this accords us an opportunity to quickly put our house in order and prepare,” he added.
Last Thursday, the CBC task force recommended that junior secondary learners be domiciled in existing primary schools.
The report which was submitted to President Dr William Ruto also directed that the ministry puts up additional classrooms and laboratory facilities in the primary schools to cater for the learning needs of grade seven pupils.
According to data from the County Director of Education office, Nyeri has registered 15,789 Grade Six candidates to sit for this year’s inaugural KPSEA assessment test.
Approximately 1.2 million Grade Six learners who were assessed this year were set to join Junior Secondary Schools (JSS) in 2023 and will form the first batch of Grade Seven learners under the CBC model.
The government had earmarked close to Sh 10 billion for the construction of 10,000 classrooms in Secondary Schools to host Grade seven in a two phased construction. Nyeri had been assigned a total of 166 classrooms.
However, Wandeto said there is nothing for alarm schools that can still take advantage of the available facilities to host the Junior Secondary School pupils.
He said while the government will still be required to set aside some money for the establishing of essential facilities such as labs in some areas, this should not interfere with the transition exercise in any way.
The legislator has similarly lauded the Treasury for releasing funds for the Constituency Development Fund which he termed as crucial in enhancing the improvement of learning facilities in public centers in readiness for the new transition to CBC system next year.
“For us in Tetu constituency, we are lucky because most of the Primary Schools have a very good capacity, we possibly need to just do a bit of improvements. We are ready to provide the labs, extra classrooms in all our 45 primary schools and we are very hopeful that as soon as the CDF is released, we shall be able to quickly make that arrangement,” he added.
The transition to the JSS next year will test the ingenuity of the CBC curriculum that operates on a 2-6-3-3-3 system as opposed to the 8-4-4 system which is being phased out in a year’s time.
The CBC system will operate on a program of two years in pre-primary, two years in lower primary, three years in upper primary, three years in senior secondary and three years in a tertiary institution.
