MPs push for reforms to clarify junior school management

Members of Parliament, (MPs) are pushing for the reforms to give clarity on the governance and management of Junior Secondary Schools, saying that the Ministry of Education should consider deploying principals to Junior Schools to address the push for autonomy.

“The Ministry of Education should review the governance and management framework of Junior Secondary Schools with a view to clarifying autonomy, leadership structures including feasibility of deploying principals to Junior Secondary Schools, and access to specialised facilities and co-curricular programmes,” reads the document.

If the reforms implemented, the move will be a big win for the JSS teachers who have been vocal in their call for autonomy. They want a separate administrative structure from that of lower primary school.

The teachers say that autonomy would provide much-needed clarity in financial management, and administration.

They have also listed the lack of well-equipped laboratories, ambiguous career progression guidelines, and the uncertainty surrounding the confirmation of 20,000 Junior Secondary School interns as pressing issues that must be resolved to avert an impending crisis.

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The Kenya Association of Junior School Teachers, the Kenya Union of Post Primary Education Teachers (KUPPET) and more than 50,000 tutors have also been demanding administrative independence and recognition of Junior Secondary School as its own tier in the education system.

The JSS teachers’ association says that the current arrangement, which places the institutions under the primary school administrative structure, undermines the professional growth and career development of Juniors who have not been employed on permanent and pensionable terms over lack of money.

However, educators have said that granting JSS independence will not only ease administration, but also strengthen the 2-6-3-3-3 Competency-Based Curriculum (CBC) structure.

In the document to the Ministry of Education, which forms part of the resolutions made by lawmakers during their recent fourth re-treat in Naivasha, the MPs have also called on the ministry to enforce transparency and ensure standardisation of school fees by strengthening oversight mechanisms and eliminating irregular levies, remedial charges, and other hidden costs that are imposed on parents against government policy.

The lawmakers also called on the ministry to finalise and enforce the National Policy on School Uniforms and Lunch Programme to minimise the financial burden on parents.

The MPs also want more to be done to curb corruption as well as the irregularities arising from unregulated uniform and service costs.

By Juma Ndigo