The Kenya National Examinations Council (Knec) has assured parents that all Grade 6 learners will transit to junior secondary in January 2023.
There were fears that the government is not prepared to handle the double intake of learners awaiting in January.
The Grade 6 learners will join Grade 7 after sitting their final examination in primary school in November this year.
Approximately 1,268,83 Grade 6 learners will sit their Kenya Primary School Education Assessment (KPSEA) from 28th to 30th November 2022.
The Grade 6 learners will also have a day for rehearsal which will be on 25th November 2022 just like it is with KCPE exams.
Education CS Magoha also assured that all KCPE and KCPE candidates will join Secondary Education in accordance with the Government policy on 100% Transition of learners in Basic Education.
These include 1,268,830 learners enrolled in Grade 6 in 2022 who will transition to Junior Secondary School (JSS) at Grade 7 under the Competency Based Curriculum (CBC) and 1,243,637 Standard 8 cohort of 2022 who will transition to Form 1 under the 8:4:4 system.
The learners will be placed in both public and private junior secondary schools next year. The selection of junior secondary for Grade 6 learners is currently ongoing.
Magoha asked parents to select day junior secondary schools near their homes by 30th August when the selection exercise will end.
Transition of learners from Upper Primary to Junior Secondary School will be guided by the assessment outcomes of the KPSEA.
KPSEA will be a combination of the learners’ scores attained from the School Based Assessments (SBA) administered at Grade 4, 5 and 6 and National summative assessment to be administered in November year.
The School Based Assessments for each of the three Grades (i.e. Grades 4, 5 and 6) will constitute 20%, with the SBAs cumulatively accounting for 60% of scores to be used in reporting as learners transit to Junior Secondary School.
To this end, KNEC has already administered SBAs to the 2022 Grade 6 cohort at Grade 4 in 2020 and at Grade 5 in 2021.
KNEC kicked off administration of the Grade 6 SBA to the 2022 cohort from 18th July, 2022 and will end on 9th September, 2022.
KNEC will also administer a summative assessment to all the 2022 Grade 6 learners from 28th to 30th November 2022.
For summative assessment in November, KNEC will assess the thirteen subjects offered at Upper Primary level using five papers of multiple choice questions constituted as follows:
1. Mathematics;
2. English Language;
3. Kiswahili / Kenyan Sign Language;
4. Integrated Science (combines 4 subjects):
i) Science and Technology;
ii) Agriculture;
iii) Home Science;
iv) Physical and Health Education.
5. Creative Arts and Social Studies (combines 4 subjects):
i)Social Studies;
ii) Christian Religious Education/Islamic Religious Education/Hindu Religious Education;
iii) Art and Craft;
iv) Music.
The Grade 6 learners will study a number of subjects when they join junior secondary school in January next year.
The Grade 6 learners will join junior secondary in January after sitting their final KPSEA exams in primary school in November this year.
Junior secondary comprise of Grade 7, 8 and 9. Below are compulsory and optional subjects in junior secondary.
Compulsory subjects
1. English
2. Kiswahili or Kenyan Sign Language for learners who are deaf
3. Mathematics
4. Integrated Science
5. Health Education
6. Pre-Technical and Pre-Career Education
7. Social Studies
8. Religious Education – learners choose one of the following:
a) Christian Religious Education
b) Islamic Religious Education
c) Hindu Religious Education
9. Business Studies
10. Agriculture
11. Life Skills Education
12. Sports and Physical Education
Optional Subjects (Minimum 1, Maximum 2)
1. Visual Arts
2. Performing Arts
3. Home Science
4. Computer Science
5. Foreign Languages:
6. German
7. French
8. Mandarin
9. Arabic
10. Indigenous Languages
11. Kenyan Sign Language
NB: ICT will be a delivery tool for all Subjects