Prepare well for ‘underage’ junior high students

Concerns have been raised by education stakeholders over the young age of students who will join junior secondary school in January under the new curriculum. The transition from Grade Six to junior secondary will be unprecedented, being a shift from the traditional admission of “mature” learners to the new normal of relatively younger students. 

This will be a new experience both for the learners and the high school teachers who have been handling a different crop of learners. The age pattern in schools will drastically change to reflect a complex social reality.

These complexities will demand a new policy discourse by the government and, by extension, secondary schools housing junior secondary. 

Young learners

It’s imperative that the young learners entering junior secondary at the young age enjoy benefits in educational outcomes like their older counterparts. There is no doubt the new normal for the young learners, especially those who were previously day scholars, will present various challenges to them, so mechanisms should be put in place to help them cope. 

How they cope will have a lot to do with how well their parents and schools are prepared for this transition. Mechanisms that need to be put in place to facilitate the transition include high quality of care, especially by those in charge of hostels, closeness of staff to this young learners so that they don’t feel neglected or deserted, and programmes and rules that consider each learner’s unique way of dealing with being away from home. 

Research has shown that emotional and physical safety in school are related to academic performance. Therefore, as we move towards this transition, apart from training teachers, the government should do more to create a friendly environment to cater for the young students to stem poor performance and dropping out.

Dr Kapkiai is a lecturer in the School of Education and Human Resource Development at Kisii University; [email protected]