Government maintains its stand on JSS learners despite opposition
The government has said it will not backtrack on its decision to host Grade 8 and Grade 9 Junior Secondary School students in existing primary schools.
Education CS Ezekiel Machogu waded into the ongoing debate among education stakeholders including the Kenya Union of Post Primary Education Teachers (Kuppet), Kenya National Union of Teachers and the teachers association on the placement of Junior School students.
The government said it will follow the recommendations of the Presidential Working Party on Education Reform to have JSS learners within primary schools.
Grade 7 students will be joining Grade 8 in January. They are the pioneers of a Competency Based Curriculum.
Mr Machogu said the Ministry of Education is undergoing a paradigm shift in its education system that has seen the gradual phasing-out of the 8-4-4 system and phasing-in of the 2-6-3-3-3 system popularly known as CBC.
“The shift from the 8-4-4 system to the CBC system marks a significant step forward in our educational landscape. It reflects our commitment to fostering a well-rounded education that goes beyond examinations, placing greater emphasis on competencies, skills, and holistic development of learners,” said the CS.
The new system whose implementation started in 2017 will see its first cohort join Grade 8 in Junior School in January 2024 and Grade 9 in 2025.
“In line with the recommendations of the Presidential Working Party on Education Reform, Grade 8 and Grade 9 of Junior School will be hosted in existing primary schools,” said the CS.
However, he said the government has taken proactive steps to ensure that Junior Schools have the required infrastructure by 2025 when the inaugural Grade 9 class in Junior School.
He said this Financial Year, Sh3.9 billion has been earmarked for the construction of classrooms for JS, and a further Sh9 billion will be provided by the World Bank, to support the construction of 9,000 classrooms.
“This, together with support from the National Government Constituency Development Fund, will ensure that we will be ready with the required 15,021 classrooms for Grade 9 learners by 2025,” he added.
The Minister said the learners will be placed in Senior School in January 2026.
The selection for Senior School will be based on three pathways that will take into consideration learners' abilities, interests, and career choices.
The three pathways in Senior School will be Social Sciences, Arts and Sports, and Science Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM).
“Each pathway will offer a unique set of subjects and learning experiences that align with specific career paths. In this regard, the Senior School guidelines for placement will be ready by April 2024 and all the Board of Management are expected to prepare for implementation of the Competency-Based Curriculum,” he added.
He said the government is working on the implementation of the various recommendations that the PWPER made, for the effective implementation of CBC.
“Already, a sessional paper and necessary draft legislation to anchor the recommendations of the Working Party report are currently at an advanced stage of preparation before submission to the Cabinet and Parliament,” he added.
However, the Kenya Union of Post-Primary Education Teachers (Kuppet), wants Grade Seven students to remain in primary school while Grades eight and nine move to secondary schools saying primary schools are not ready.
Two weeks ago, Kuppet wrote a letter to President William Ruto and CS Machogu over the challenges facing JS.
Kuppet demanded the domiciling JS be vacated from primary to secondary schools. The union said domiciling JS in primary school was a flop.
“It is safe to say no effective learning is taking place in JS. So far the government has only posted one JS teacher per school or stream. This one teacher who is trained in only two subjects is forced to teach all the 14 subjects in the JS curriculum,” said Kuppet chairperson Omboko Milemba.
Mr Milemba said the learners are losing out on vital practical knowledge especially in the sciences due to lack of infrastructure.
For instance, the union leader said in the year 2025, there will be no Form One.
“There is available infrastructure and resources for Grade 8 to move in and start learning in the existing secondary schools including laboratories, teachers, laboratories among other resources,” added Mr Milemba.
He said 93 per cent of the submissions received by the Presidential Working Party on Education Reforms from various stakeholders recommended that JS be hosted in existing primary schools.
Mr Machogu said only five per cent of the submissions recommended the hosting of JS in existing secondary schools, while two per cent suggested new schools for JS.
“It was noted that Grade 7 and Grade 8 learners would experience psycho-social challenges in settling down and integrating with secondary school learners, who are relatively much older,” he said.
The Minister further added that there will also be space available to accommodate Grade 7 and Grade 8 learners in JS because Standard 7 and 8 classrooms will not be occupied by then, as we phase out the 8-4-4 structure.
This comes as the government is racing against time to construct classrooms and other infrastructural resources including laboratories for Junior Schools for Grade 9 students amidst congestion in the public primary schools where the students have been placed.
The PWPER placed Grade 7, 8 and 9 students in primary schools instead of secondary schools to save parents the agony of school fees payment, procuring of new uniforms and availability of infrastructure including classrooms. This is part of Basic Education which is free and compulsory, unlike Higher Education.
Early this year, President William Ruto explained the reasons for domiciling JS in the existing primary schools saying the majority of Kenyans wanted the same.
Dr Ruto said his Kenya Kwanza administration decided to domicile JS in primary schools due to lack of capacity in secondary learning institutions in both private and public schools.
However, the previous administration led by President Uhuru Kenyatta had pumped billions of shillings into the construction of Junior Secondary School classrooms in Secondary Schools.
President Ruto said Kenya has nearly three times more primary schools than secondary institutions.
Both private and public primary schools today stand at 32,000 while secondary schools stand at 10,000.
“This mix-match will continue to frustrate our efforts to deliver a 100 percent transition to secondary education.
This is one of the reasons that may have informed the working party towards hosting JS in our primary schools,” said the President on December 6, 2022.
The President’s decision to domicile the JS in the existing primary schools was hailed by parents and education stakeholders led by the Kenya Primary Schools Head Teachers National Chairman Johnson Nzioka and the National Parents Association chairperson, Mr Silas Obuhatsa and the Kenya National Union of Teachers Secretary General Collins Oyuu.
