Handle junior secondary school with care

The implementation of the Competency-Based Curriculum (CBC) will come under heavy scrutiny in the next five months, when learners in Grade 6 transit to junior secondary school (JSS). They are selecting the schools they want to join in January. As in the past, the selection is managed by Kenya National Examinations Council.

Although the government has been reassuring Kenyans that there is no cause for worry, concerns about the transition refuse to go away. Many learners don’t get admitted to their school of choice despite scoring impressive marks, mainly due to limited vacancies. This will worsen in January, when more than 2.5 million learners join secondary school in the double intake for Grade 7 and Form One.

With the congestion in secondary schools, there is cause to worry for the new Cabinet Secretary for Education.

Parents will need to guide their children in selecting schools with assistance from teachers. As happens often, some top-performing schools will be selected by the majority of students. However, many will be disappointed as these can only accommodate a few of them.

Parents will need reassurance that the placement will be strictly on merit and that it will respect the learners’ preferences. For the first time, private schools have been included in the list of schools to select from following lobbying by their association to offer alternatives.

According to the thinking behind the CBC framework, JSS is ideally a day school affair. But many parents shun public day schools because many have poor infrastructure and don’t have a history of good performance in national examinations.

However, with the learners joining JSS at a relatively younger age than those going to Form One, it is advisable for them to attend day schools and learn as boarders in senior secondary.

Meanwhile, the government must urgently address the poor distribution of public day schools, especially in urban areas.