The pioneer group of the Competency-Based Curriculum (CBC) is set to join Junior Secondary School (JSS) on January 30, 2023, after completing the first level of the new education system.
The government introduced CBC in 2017 to replace the traditional 8-4-4 system that was introduced in 1985 by late former President Daniel Arap Moi.
According to education experts, the new system puts emphasis on a learner’s unique talents and abilities rather than focusing wholly on academics and exam performances.
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Unlike the 8-4-4 system where learners would spend 8 years for primary education, 4 years in secondary school and 4 years at the university, the CBC curriculum runs on a 2-6-3-3 system of education where basic education has been organized in three levels; Early Years Education, Middle School Education, and Senior School.
The new system ends primary school learning at Grade 6, and the pioneer class did their final exams dubbed Kenya Primary School Education Assessment (KPSEA) in November 2022.
The results of some 1.2 million learners who wrote their exams at various centres countrywide were released by Education Cabinet Secretary Ezekiel Machogu on Monday, January 16, 2023.
Junior Secondary School (JSS)
All the learners are now expected to join Junior Secondary School, which falls under the Middle School Education level.
The Ministry of Education confirmed late last year that junior secondary will be domiciled in existing primary schools and that the KPSEA assessment won't be used to place learners in junior secondary.
The resolutions followed recommendations by a taskforce constituted by President William Ruto to evaluate the new system.
The 49-member Working Party is chaired by renowned educationist and University of Nairobi lecturer Raphael Munavu.
In its preliminary report submitted to the Head of State in December last year, the committee recommended that Grades 7, 8 and 9 be domiciled in the existing primary schools due to a lack of adequate infrastructure to accommodate the JSS learners in secondary schools.
The taskforce has until March 2023 to submit its final report to President Ruto.
Speaking during the Form 1 selection exercise at Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development (KICD) in Nairobi, CS Machogu confirmed that the government has assessed 14,000 public primary schools and found that at least 13,000 of them are ready to admit JSS learners.
"So far, more than 13,000 schools have met the Ministry of Education requirements for Junior secondary schools," he said.
Subjects
Junior Secondary School learners will be pursuing 14 subjects out of which 12 subjects will be compulsory.
In a new curriculum design, KICD indicated that the 14 subjects include English, Kiswahili, Mathematics, Integrated Science, Health Education, pre-technical and pre-career, Social Studies, Religious Education, Business Studies, Agriculture, Life skills education, Physical Education/Sports, and foreign languages.
The 12 core subjects which will be taught include Mathematics, Kiswahili, English, Life Skills, Health Education, Social Studies, Integrated Science, Business Studies, Religious Education, Agriculture, as well as Sports and Physical Education.
Optional subjects provided to learners include at least one and utmost two subjects from the following; Visual Arts, Performing Arts, Home Science, Computer Science, Foreign Languages-German, French, Mandarin, Arabic, Kenya Sign Language and Indigenous Languages.
Uniforms
Learners transitioning to Grade 7 will be required to wear a different colour or type of uniform that will differentiate them from pupils in primary school.
“There is need to distinguish the Junior Secondary School section, as a result a decision has been made that parents and management agree on the new uniforms for JSS learners. Because it is secondary, the uniform will not be the same,” Machogu told the media.
Machogu said parents will have to bear the responsibility of buying uniforms for their children.
School fees
According to the Education CS, other than the uniform cost, the government will cater for the tuition fees for all learners in JSS.
Consequently, school heads not providing boarding services have been prohibited from charging parents and guardians any additional fees.
Machogu said the government has set aside Ksh9.6 billion to support Junior Secondary School education.
"The government has set aside Ksh9.6 billion for the learners and will pay Ksh15,000 for each student," the CS said.
Additional teachers
The State is set to hire 30,000 teachers to facilitate the transition to JSS and bridge the teacher shortage in the country.
“The Ministry of Education, Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development and the Teachers Service Commission will work on modalities of fast-tracking retooling teachers to ensure the country has sufficient numbers who are compliant with CBC. Priority will be given to those teachers who will be handling Grade Seven learners,” State House spokesperson Hussein Mohamed said in December last year.
