By Hilton Mwabili
Kenya Primary School Heads Association (KEPSHA) has asked the Ministry of Education (MoE) to review the examination policy to address challenges of students who fall ill or deliver babies during the examination period.
In an 18-point resolution communiqué read by KEPSHA National Secretary Philip Mitei, the school heads called for timely release of capitation funds warning that frequent delay of the funds has been interfering with smooth running of school operations.
The primary school heads in their resolutions, at the same time asked MoE to consider increasing the Free Primary Education capitation annually to enable schools to meet the current demand in their respective institutions.
But in a clear friction with the Kenya Union of Post Primary Education Teachers (KUPPET), the school heads supported the government’s move to have Junior Secondary School (JSS) domiciled in existing primary schools.
“The conference requests the government through the Ministry of education to commit to engage the National treasury for increased capitation. Allowing recent Kenya Primary School Education Assessment (KPSEA) students remain domicile in Primary Schools as was the wish of KEPSHA teachers,” said Mitei.
KUPPET Secretary General Akello Misori has been on record opposing the idea of domiciling Junior Secondary in primary on grounds that allowing primary schools to host JSS is taking the country back to the past curriculum.
“According to Misori, considering the technicalities involved such as the requirement of a laboratory, it will be practically impossible for Primary schools to host Junior secondary,” he said.
The school heads also resolved to lobby the Ministry to provide learning and teaching materials for both Primary and Junior secondary schools inclusive of special needs schools.
They further want the government to support continuous capacity building programs of teachers for effective CBC implementation in schools.
At the same time, they asked the government to avail funds to bolster infrastructure considering the congestion resulting from closure of some private schools especially during the Covid-19 pandemic.
