State to domicile Junior Secondary School in existing secondary schools

By Our Correspondent(Education News Kenya — https://educationnews.co.ke/news/state-to-domicile-junior-secondary-school-in-existing-secondary-schools)

The government has maintained that learners transitioning to Junior Secondary School under the Competency-Based Curriculum (CBC) will study in existing secondary and not primary schools.

A Deputy Director in the State Department for the Implementation of Curriculum Reforms, Ms. Ruth Mugambi who is a technical advisor, said that learners who will join grade seven next year, when the pioneer class of the new CBC system move to junior secondary school, will be taught by secondary school teachers.

She was speaking during the third national update on the implementation of the CBC during the Sema na Spox online engagement with the members of the public session today.

“Junior Secondary programme is a secondary school affair and students will be taught by teachers at that level,” Ms Mugambi said.

Implementation of the CBC, which is already in progress, will occur at different levels, from early year education to tertiary education level, with transition guidelines clearly defined at each stage to ensure smooth and seamless passage.

Deputy Director of TIVET Division at Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development, Dr. Samuel Obudho revealed that KICD had already created curriculum designs from PP1 to grade seven and is in the process of developing more course materials ahead of the full rollout.

TSC Director of Quality Assurance, Dr Reuben Nthamburi, said that TSC was already building the capacity of teachers to implement the new curriculum effectively.

Dr. Nthamburi said over 60,000 teachers in both public and private secondary schools are getting training before the current Grade five students transition to Junior Secondary in January 2023.

A total of 229,000 teachers have, so far, been trained by the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) across the forty-seven counties in collaboration with a multi-agency team, Dr. Nthamburi said.

The Deputy Director for Secondary Education, Mr. Lawrence Karundini, said the Ministry was keen to ensure secondary schools have the infrastructure for learning.

He said out of the 6,495 new classrooms earmarked for construction in the first phase to expand infrastructure in secondary schools in readiness for grade seven learners, 5,000 classroom units have been handed over to institutions, with the deficit expected to be complete by the end of May.