The Kenya National Examinations Council (Knec) has released dates when Grade 6 learners will carry out selection of junior secondary schools (JSS) ahead of January 2023 placement.
Through the online Knec portal managed by their schools, the learners will be able to select junior secondary schools of their choice just like the KCPE candidates.
Knec says the portal will start to be operational from August 15th to August 30th for the exercise.
The learners are expected to transit to Grade Seven in January next year.
“First of all, the children will have to apply and we are going to tell them the number of slots available. We are almost completing the process. We encourage the private schools, which we will say are ready for junior secondary schools, to allow the children to apply on the public platform so that they are placed,” said Prof Magoha.
So far a total of 2,300 public primary schools have been selected to host Junior Secondary Schools in next year.
This comes even as the government continues to engage in last minute rush to ensure that there are enough classrooms to accommodate Grade Seven students.
Magoha said the selected primary schools are those sharing a compound with secondary schools.
“We have said as a government, when a high school and a primary school are within the same compound, we shall also use the physical resources that are there,” he said.
The Grade 6 learners will have their national assessment this school term. The Agriculture assessment project titled Rearing of domestic animals will add some scores in the final primary school assessment.
The Grade 6 learners will sit for their final primary school exams in November this year known as KPSEA.
The Grade 6 final test, which learners will sit in November this year, will be purely in multiple choices.
This is according to the exam samples that the Knec released for schools last month.
The KPSEA national test will replace the outdated Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) but share some similarities.
However unlike the KCPE, the Grade 6 KPSEA exam will be marked out of 40 percent instead of a hundred percent.
This is because the learners sat for their School Based Assessment (SBA) tests in Grade 4, 5 and 6 which contribute a total of 60 percent in their final score.
The national assessment in Grade 4 contribute 20 percent, Grade 5 another 20 percent and lastly Grade 6 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 pioneer CBC 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 Three, Four and Five 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.
On his part, Deputy Director for Secondary Education Lawrence Karundi noted that the Junior Secondary Schools will be domiciled in high schools.
He also revealed that the Grade Seven to Eight students will be day scholars.
“When it comes to the issue of dormitories, especially with the junior secondary, our focus is that this should be a day school, not boarding. The transition will be in such a way that students join schools within where they are now, therefore, boarding may not be necessary,” Karundi stated.
Deputy Director in the State Department for the Implementation of Curriculum Reforms, Ruth Mugambi added 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.
KENYA PRIMARY SCHOOL EDUCATION ASSESSMENT (KPSEA) 2022
Below are sample papers for Knec Kpsea national exams.
1. Mathematics
2. English
3. Kiswahili
4. Integrated Science
5. Creative Art and Social Studies
Click here to Download Grade 6 KPSEA 2022 official timetable
In Grade 7 learners will study the following compulsory and optional subjects.
SUBJECTS OFFERED IN GRADE 7
Core Subjects
- English
- Kiswahili or Kenyan Sign Language for learners who are deaf
- Mathematics
- Integrated Science
- Health Education
- Pre-Technical and Pre-Career Education
- Social Studies
- Religious Education – learners choose one of the following:
- Christian Religious Education
- Islamic Religious Education
- Hindu Religious Education
- Business Studies 1
- Agriculture
- Life Skills Education
- Sports and Physical Education
Optional Subjects (Minimum 1, Maximum 2)
- Visual Arts
- Performing Arts
- Home Science
- Computer Science
- Foreign Languages:
- German
- French
- Mandarin
- Arabic
- Indigenous Languages
- Kenyan Sign Language
NB: ICT will be a delivery tool for all Subjects