MAGOHA LISTS REQUIREMENT FOR JUNIOR SECONDARY SCHOOLS

Performance, affirmative action and fairness are some of the factors likely to be considered for Junior Secondary School (JSS) placement next year.

Education Cabinet Secretary Prof George Magoha yesterday said all public and private secondary schools currently registered will be used for Competency-Based Curriculum (CBC), even as he assured that the full criteria for placement will be revealed on Friday.

“On Friday, I will give a blow-by-blow manner in which the process will be done,” Magoha said.

He made the remarks at Kariobangi North Girls Secondary School in Nairobi, yesterday, when he assessed CBC preparedness and launched a new laboratory.

The CS said the usual rush for secondary schools will wait until Year Nine, where they will be prepared to join Senior Secondary.

“The point that the public will have to understand is that the usual rush to secondary school will be delayed to Year Nine,” he added.

Already, Grade Six learners have had two formative assessments, in Grades Four and Five, each covering 20 per cent of the final mark.

Another 20 per cent mark will be covered this second term before the final Kenya Primary School Education Assessment (KPSEA) is done in November.

KPSEA, which is the summative exam, will cover 40 per cent of the final mark.

Absolute fairness

“Each of those three assessments will have 20 per cent and there will be a final one in November, the aggregate of which will give 100 per cent,” he explained.

According to Magoha, the 100 per cent will be the first point to check how the children have performed as they are placed.

He said there are several other issues to be looked into, for instance, a learner who has performed very well and is, from say Wajir, will be considered as part of affirmative action. “Like in Kenya High School there will be 10 streams for Form One but only three streams will be for Junior high, which means we are encouraging parents to send children to day schools. But at the same time, we are constructing more classrooms in every school,” Magoha said.

The CS further assured that the ministry will ensure absolute fairness in terms of equity and availability of slots when placing. “… and we are not saying that this will be a day school affair but a greater majority will be day scholars,” he noted.

He added that placement to Senior Secondary will also depend on what pathway or course the child will want to take, for instance, if they want to pursue music or medicine or any other discipline.

“This issue of everybody wanting to become a neuro-surgeon has to stop because we shall have known that this child, for instance, wants to pursue music and where it is available,” he explained.

He also said about 2,300 secondary schools with primary wings within the same compound will also be used, which will give another 5,000 spaces that will be used to host JSS.

Basic requirement

Magoha said that the construction of CBC classrooms will continue until the end of the year. Similarly, the CS said quite a number of private schools have complied with requirements to set up JSS.

“On Friday, we will give a schedule of the private primary schools and the stand-alone JSS private secondary schools that have complied with what we require. The most basic requirement for the primary school is a functioning laboratory because there is no secondary school without a laboratory and we shall move with speed to register them,” he said.

Magoha noted that registration of schools to set up JSS will not stop.

“Let me encourage private schools to continue investing in laboratories. As we continue to inspect, we will not give registration to any primary school that has not bothered to create a laboratory so that we do not make CBC look like a hoax where you retain children and you do not have a laboratory for them,” explained the CS.

The CS warned contractors to keep pace with the timelines provided so that the target to build CBC classrooms can be set as a new Government comes in.