CBC: ‘Where Should Junior Secondary Schools Be Domiciled?’,As Parents Raise Concerns

NAKURU,Kenya, Jan, 25 – A section of education stakeholders in Gilgil, Nakuru county have raised concerns over the establishment of junior secondary schools under the Competency Based Curriculum (CBC) in ‘traditional’ High Schools.

Parents say that it would have been advisable to consider several factors including the age of the learners when setting up the schools. Some said that the move could possibly expose the young learners to bullying as well as indiscipline from the senior students.

Gilgil MP Martha Wangari accused Education Cabinet Secretary Prof. George Magoha for the looming crisis saying that stakeholders were not properly consulted.

“The current confusion under the Competent Based Curriculum has been brought about by Magoha who has failed to involve parents in the planning,”said Wangari.

There are calls to attempt to have junior secondary schools under the CBC be domiciled in Primary schools with stakeholders citing ample space and the need for learners to be in the company of their age mates.

“The students who will be transiting from primary to junior secondary are still young and need to remain within their agemates as they mature,” she said.

The ministry of education has however remained firm on the matter saying that no secondary school will be in a primary school.

Officials say that plans are fully underway to ensure all secondary schools in the country accommodate Junior Secondary Schools (JSS) as learners prepare to transition from grade six to seven in January 2023 under the  Competency Based Curriculum (CBC). 

 “No secondary school will be in a primary school and if the primary school has excess infrastructure that can be transformed into a JSS, then the government is at liberty to establish a wing of JSS with its own management, own secondary school infrastructure that can grow from junior to senior. JSS being hosted in existing secondary schools is based on rationale of resource optimisation,” said Implementation of Curriculum Reforms Principal Secretary Prof Fatuma Chege in a previous interview in 2021.

An assessment by the ministry of education revealed that some secondary schools already have surplus classrooms and as such resources will be channelled towards other deserving learning institutions.

Funding For Construction of Classrooms

Education Cabinet Secretary professor George Magoha said that the national treasury had availed to the ministry of education Sh4 billion kickstarting phase one of the competency based curriculum (CBC) school infrastructure development programme.

The monies is expected to fund the construction of 6,500 classrooms in 6,371 secondary schools across the country.

An additional Sh1.2 billion from the Ministry of Education infrastructure fund will also be feared towards the programme.

The move is expected to address the classroom deficit in public secondary schools in turn facilitating a smooth transition of CBC grade 6 learners to junior secondary in January 2023.

President Uhuru Kenyatta had directed the National Treasury to avail Sh8 billion towards the construction of 10,000 classrooms in secondary school.

The programme will be implemented in two phases.