Grade 6 learners joining junior secondary will have an uphill task in learning Grade 7 content due to the absence of a laboratory.
Grade 6 learners who completed their Kenya Primary School Education Assessment (KPSEA) last month will transition to Junior secondary schools domiciled in the existing primary schools.
Junior secondary involves Grade 7, 8 and 9. Majority of primary schools, both private and public, do not have a laboratory facility.
Some learning areas in junior secondary dictates that a science lab be available for proper learning.
Though the Presidential Working Party on Education Reform (PWPER) recommended a laboratory be constructed in each public primary school, this will not be possible within a year as it suggested.
“An extra classroom and laboratory will be built in every primary school. The construction of laboratories will be given priority within the next one year,” read an interim report of the PWPER.
There are around 30,146 primary schools countrywide and making a well equipped laboratory available within a year is not going to be easy. Meaning Grade 7 learners of next year may proceed to Grade 8 without using a laboratory.
The taskforce further asked the Members of Parliament to work towards providing support for the extra facilities.
It also recommended primary schools neighboring secondary schools to share the laboratories and other facilities with junior secondary schools.
Some learning areas in junior secondary necessitating for laboratory are; Pure Sciences like Integrated Science which involve Biology, Chemistry, Physics and Health Education. Applied Sciences like Agriculture, Home science and computer studies.
To ease learning next year the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) has advertised 35,550 jobs for teachers who will work in primary and junior secondary schools.
In the advert a total of 21,550 posts are for teachers who will work as Interns in Junior Secondary Schools.
The Teacher Internship Programme is a one year programme meant to equip and sustain competencies of persons entering the teaching service.
TSC has also advertised 9,000 posts on Permanent and Pensionable Terms of Service for Secondary School Teachers. 1,000 posts on Permanent and Pensionable terms of service for Primary School Teachers and 4,000 posts for Teacher Interns in Primary Schools.