Primary head teachers will not be in charge of junior secondary classes hosted in their schools

Primary head teachers will not be in charge of junior secondary classes hosted in their schools

Primary school heads will not manage junior secondary classes that will be hosted in their schools.

In 2023, pioneer learners under the new 2-6-3-3-3 CBC system will transition to junior secondary school after sitting the Grade Six national examinations.

Junior secondary classes comprise of Grades 7, 8 and 9.

The head teachers will only be in charge of the classes that will be under the primary school section.

Ministry of Education has already identified primary schools that will help with transitioning of grade 6 learners.

However the junior secondary classes will only be in primary schools temporarily before the learners are moved to the secondary school section.

According to the Principle Secretary for State Department for Implementation of Curriculum Reforms, Professor Fatuma Chege, the junior secondary section will be domiciled in secondary schools.

Initially there was confusion on where Grade 7, 8 and 9 will be placed next year as well as its management.

The confusion was also heightened after the Basic Education Principal Secretary Julius Jwan said that the junior secondary classes will be domiciled both in secondary and primary schools.

Juan said the current classes used by class 7 and 8 will be used to host Grades 7, 8 and 9 next year.

“Classrooms used by pupils of class seven and eight will remain vacant due to the introduction of the CBC. But the classrooms will not go to waste because they are public resources. Instead, they will be used by students of Junior secondary schools,” Jwan said.

However Prof. Chege clarified that if for any reason, a Junior Secondary School class will be accommodated in surplus classrooms in a primary school, that is merely accommodation, they do not belong to the primary school, they are domiciled in the secondary sub-sector.

She said the section will therefore have their own Board and that if the government so wishes to establish a Junior Secondary School using the available infrastructure in a primary school, then that primary school will be having a Junior Secondary School.

“Junior secondary school will be domiciled in secondary schools. There should be no confusion between domiciling, hosting or accommodating. If you are accommodated or hosted, you are a guest, but when you are domiciled, then you belong there legally,” said PS Fatuma Chege.

Prof. Chege who sought to clarify that the ongoing debate about the placement of the pioneer batch of Grade Six candidates under 2-6-3-3-3 curriculum to Junior Secondary Schools, stressed that as much as there are primary schools which will host Junior Secondary Schools, the management and the administration in such instances, will be independent from that of the primary school.

The PS was speaking at St. Maria Goretti Ruruguti Secondary School in Othaya, Nyeri County, where she commissioned the first complete classroom built under the Competence Based Curriculum project.

Already the Education Cabinet Secretary, George Magoha, announced a fresh 10-month training for teachers who will handle the upcoming Grade 7 learners.

Speaking at Kapsabet Girls High School in Nandi County on Sunday, February 14, Magoha noted that the 10-month training will take place between the month of February and December.

A total of 60,000 teachers are targeted in the training. with over 120,000 primary school teachers already trained to handle Grade 6.

The Teachers Service Commission has planned the training of Junior Secondary School teachers in Competency Based Curriculum (CBC) and Competency Based Assessment (CBA) with effect from 25th April to 13th May 2022.

The Commission said it will also employ more teachers to handle junior secondary from the Sh15 billion additional budget it received for the 2022 – 2023 financial year.

Treasury Cabinet Secretary Ukur Yatani had allocated an additional Sh13 billion to the TSC, whose budget has risen to Sh294.7 billion from Sh281.7 billion in the new financial year.

In a report, which was presented to the Committee on Education and Research of the National Assembly by the Parliamentary Budget Office, shows TSC has planned to use its increased allocation to employ 13,000 secondary school teachers and 9,000 interns to cope with exits and the expected increase in enrolment when junior secondary is rolled out in January 2023.

Magoha said three national examinations for Grade 6, Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) and Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) are ready for administration.

“Government is continuous and if I am not there, whoever will come to take over will find everything ready and our children will be safe. We are leaving everything in good state as far as our children welfare is concerned,” he said.

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