By Our Reporter
The Ministry of Education has confirmed that some Junior Secondary Schools (JSS) will settle in primary schools but they will run autonomously.
The Permanent Secretary for the State Department of Curriculum Reforms Prof. Fatuma Chege confirmed the issue, setting aside the debate on whether JSS will be totally moved to secondary schools or they will be retained at primary schools.
The PS reiterated that although there are primary schools that will host JSS, its management and administration will run independently.
“There should be no confusion between domiciling, hosting or accommodating. If you are accommodated, you are a guest, similarly when you are hosted, you are a guest, but when you are domiciled, then you belong there legally,” she highlighted.
She further said that those JSS classes that would be accommodated in surplus classrooms in primary schools would have their own school board, different from that of the parent primary school and would receive government support, adding that if the government sees it fit to establish a JSS with the extra infrastructure within the same school, then the institution will be having a Junior Secondary School.
A recent report by a team led by PS Chege revealed that domiciling JSS at Secondary School level will optimize teacher utilization as they will teach at both Junior and Senior Secondary school levels.
The taskforce made recommendations on provisions for primary schools that have adequate infrastructure to establish a JSS and for this case to develop a framework to facilitate sharing and management of infrastructure among primary and secondary schools that will be established in the same compound.
