State Department for Implementation of Curriculum Reforms in the Ministry of Education PS Prof. Fatuma Chege has affirmed that Junior Secondary Schools will be domiciled in secondary schools.
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.
“There should be no confusion between domiciling, hosting or accommodating. If you are accommodated, you are a guest, similarly when you are hosted, you are a guest, but when you are domiciled, then you belong there legally,” she emphasized.
The PS expounded 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.
He 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.
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.
A total of 166 classrooms were to be constructed in the County. In total, the State is putting up 11,000 classrooms countrywide, at a cost of Sh8.1 billion.
The new classes will provide additional learning space for the more than one million students, set to join Junior Secondary School next year, as the country shifts from the 8-4-4 to the Competency Based Curriculum (CBC).
During the inspection tour, Prof. Chege was accompanied by the Sub-County Education Officers, Deputy County Commissioners and area Chiefs, who have been monitoring the construction of the CBC classrooms.
The Nyeri County Director of Education, Sabina Aroni, noted that Nyeri had attained the 50 per cent mark of accomplishment of the project.
Aroni said that an additional three new classrooms would be Commissioned by the end of this week.
She appealed to other contractors working on the project to ensure that the classrooms are completed before the March deadline.
The Director stressed that contractors who qualify to implement Phase Two of the project, will be vetted based on their performance during the First Phase.
“We will be using the work delivered on this First Phase to vet the contractors who will take up the construction project during Phase Two of the project. Those who deliver during Phase One will be given first priority. We are still working towards ensuring that all classrooms are complete by March 6th, so that we can comfortably switch our focus to administering the national exams when that time comes,” said Aroni.
The Government had initially planned to construct a total of 199 new classrooms in Nyeri, as the country prepared to admit the first batch of students into Junior Secondary school in 2023.
The State had set aside Sh8 billion to help put up a total of 11,600 classrooms across the country as the nation shifts from the 8-4-4 system to the Competency Based Curriculum (CBC).
Construction of the classes was expected to kick off last month and end in April this year.
During last year’s Mashujaa Day celebrations, President Uhuru Kenyatta announced plans by his Administration to construct more than 10,000 classrooms, ahead of the transition of learners from primary to Junior Secondary School.
Uhuru Directed the National Treasury to make available Sh8.1 billion for the project to support the primary to secondary school shift in the Competence-Based Curriculum (CBC).
“Ministry of Education, jointly with the Ministry of Interior and the National Treasury, shall establish a framework for the construction of the over 10,000 classrooms needed to provide the additional learning space required for the one million new students, set to join Junior Secondary,” said the Head of State in his Mashujaa Day speech.
By next year, CBC pioneer learners are expected to join Junior Secondary school, after sitting their Grade Six National Examinations, while the present Class Seven learners under the old 8-4-4 system, will join Form One after sitting Kenya Certificate of Primary Education Examinations (KCPE).
At least 2,571,044 Grade Six and Standard Eight learners are expected to join secondary class next year.
By Samuel Maina and Wangari Mwangi
