The Teachers Service Commission (TSC) will train a total of 116,024 high school teachers in preparation for junior secondary Grade Nine class.
At least 60,000 secondary school teachers were trained to handle Grade Seven and Eight in April this year.
The Commission also trained 120,000 primary school teachers to handle grade six learners in December last year.
The training of teachers is organized by both TSC and the Kenya National Examinations Council (Knec).
Junior secondary involves Grade Seven, Eight and Nine. Currently the first cohorts under the Competency Based Curriculum (CBC) are in Grade Six.
The Grade Six learners will join Grade Seven in January next year. The selection exercise for Grade Seven junior secondary is currently ongoing and will end on 10th September.
The curriculum designs for the junior secondary classes are ready according to Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development (KICD).
According to Education CS George Magoha, teachers have been trained to roll out CBC and the task that remains will be accomplished by the next government after more than 10 million children were enrolled in the curriculum.
“The current government has invested a lot of resources in CBC and with more than 10 million children having been enrolled, the next regime can’t think of abolishing it,” said Prof Magoha.
The teachers will be trained on the following compulsory and optional subjects offered in junior secondary classes.
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
Approximately 1,268,83 Grade 6 learners will sit their Kenya Primary School Education Assessment (KPSEA) exams from 28th to 30th November 2022.
The learners will be placed in both public and private junior secondary schools during the placement exercise in December.
CS Magoha is banking on private schools to provide a total 5,000 classes for smooth transition of CBC classes.
The Ministry of Education has approved a good number of private primary and secondary schools for junior high selection exercise.
The Ministry officials said more private and public schools will be approved if they meet the required standards.
Magoha also asked parents to select day junior secondary schools near their homes. However he said those who wish to select prestigious schools far away from their homes are free to do so.
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 the final summative assessment (KPSEA) 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.
