The Grade six learners will spend six years in secondary schools inline with the new curriculum requirements, after sitting their final exams in primary school in November this year.
The pioneer Competency Based Curriculum (CBC) learners will join junior secondary at grade seven in January next year.
Secondary school education is divided into two. The Grade six learners will spend 3 years in junior secondary which involves Grade 7, 8 and 9.
They will then transit to senior secondary which takes three years and involves Grade 10, 11 and 12.
Currently the selection exercise for junior secondary is ongoing and will end on 10th September.
According to Knec guidelines the learners are required to select two national schools, two regional schools, two county schools and 4 sub county schools.
Approximately 1,268,83 Grade 6 learners are registered to sit for the Kenya Primary School Education Assessment (KPSEA) from 28th to 30th November 2022.
The Ministry of Education is yet to release the fee structure for learners who will join junior secondary at grade 7.
Top education officials have however indicated that most of the grade 6 learners will join junior secondary schools as day scholars.
This means parents will have to brace for tough financial times due to many charges that come with secondary education.
The government has subsidized fee payment for secondary school students who are boarders while making it free for the day scholars.
The State department overseeing the implementation of CBC said that the learners will be posted to junior high schools based on proximity to their former primary school, subject selection and performance in primary school.
“Posting of learners to junior high will be informed by the capability of parents to transport a child to the school they have chosen,” Ruth Mugambi, the technical adviser to the Principal Secretary on CBC matters said.
This means that most learners will attend their local neighbouring schools instead of having to scramble for limited spaces at key schools.
However in this selection exercise CS Magoha has said parents are free to select the prestigious schools away from their homes.
The Grade 6 learners will sit for their final test in primary schools known as Kenya Primary School Education Assessment (KPSEA).
The KPSEA national test will replace the outdated Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) but share some similarities.
Unlike the KCPE, the Grade 6 KPSEA exam will be marked out of 40 percent instead of 100 percent.
This is because the learners sat for their School Based Assessment (SBA) tests in Grade 3, 4 and 5 which contribute a total of 60 percent in their final score.
The national assessment in Grade 3 also Kenya Early Year Assessment (KEYA) contribute 20 percent, Grade 4 another 20 percent and lastly Grade 5 another 20 percent to give a total of 60 percent.
Placement of learners in Grade 7 will be informed by how they perform in their final Grade 6 exams as well as in the already done SBA’s.
The learners will sit for their final test in primary schools from 28th to 30th November 2022 before transiting to junior secondary in January next year.
Knec has released a timetable for the exams which shows the exams will take three days.
The Grade 6 learners will also have a day for rehearsal which will be on 25th November 2022 just like it used to be with KCPE exams.
The Grade 6 regular learners will sit for five subjects in their final assessment in primary school.
These are; Mathematics, English, Kiswahili, Integrated Science and Creative Art and Social Studies.
Knec Competency Based Assessment (CBA) Coordinator Ann Ngatia explained that Integrated and Creative Sciences will be an integration of various subjects and that the five will be part of the KPSEA at the end of primary school.
“The exam will be a multiple-choice test covering the five papers. IS will see us combine science and technology and will cover Home Science, Agriculture, and Physical Health while CASS will combine Art and Craft, Music, Social Studies and religious education (CRE, IRE and HRE),” she noted.
The coordinator added that the primary school results will be determined by the School Based Assessment (SBA), which is done every year in the upper primary classes and the five-subject summative national examination.
“We will have a 60 per cent of the score coming from SBA spread over Grade Four, Five and Six and 40 per cent from the summative report so that we do not rely on a one-time assessment to determine the potential of the learner,” Ngatia added.
Ngatia expounded that the school-based evaluation will be done in form of projects, practicals, portfolios and oral assessments to allow learners to demonstrate what they have learnt, this will be executed by the classroom teachers guided by Knec.
Deputy Director in the State Department for the Implementation of Curriculum Reforms, Ruth Mugambi said that the Grade Six candidates will be placed into Junior Secondary Schools based on their performance, subjects chosen and the ability to join the day schools.
“Placement will be determined by the performance of the learners in Grade Six report and the optional subjects that they will have chosen. The students will be informed which schools offer the subjects within their proximity based on guidelines from the ministry,” Mugambi added.
Knec will also carry out a piloting of KPSEA national exams in September in selected schools.
According to the pilot assessment schedule released by Knec the study will start on 28th and end on 30th September 2022.
Killing parents, paying fees for 6years is not a joke ????