Most Grade 6 pupils to join day schools for junior high
Education CS Prof. George Magoha accompanied by Eglyne Maritime, Principal of Namgoi Mixed Day Secondary School in Kapsabet, Nandi County, Zachary Mutwiri, the county’s Director of Education, and students, during the commissioning of phase two of the Competency-Based Curriculum classroom at the school on July 30, 2022.
What you need to know:
- CS says the students who will from August 15 to 30 select their preferred secondary schools will be placed in schools based on the average score of their school assessments and the final assessment slated for November 28–30.
- According to the CS, teachers have been trained to roll out the CBC hence the protest by trade unionists does not hold water as what remains will be accomplished by the next government.
Most students transitioning to junior high will be placed in day schools near their homes, Education Cabinet Secretary George Magoha has said.
“Most of the children will be day scholars just like it is now because we have more day schools than boarding schools,” he said.
Prof Magoha also encouraged learners in private schools to select their current institutions, even as he pleaded with owners of such institutions to build standalone classrooms.
Speaking in Nandi County yesterday, he also disclosed that the students who will from August 15 to 30 select their preferred secondary schools will be placed in schools based on the average score of their school assessments and the final assessment slated for November 28–30.
“Assessments in schools for the last two years have been excellent. For example, where we have had 1.2 million children, less than 700 are between 19 and 20 marks, which means they are identifying children who are excellent and not pushing them down,” he explained, adding that examining the learners will not be the final determinant of which school they will join.
“Currently, the last assessment for Grade 6 is taking place and the marks will be released within a few weeks. By the time they are sitting their summative assessment, which is the written one called the Kenya Primary School Education Assessment (KPSEA), all those three marks would have been brought together—2020, 2021 and 2022. The 40 per cent, which will come from the summative assessment, is important but not as important as in the past when it was the alpha and omega,” said CS Magoha.
Competency-based curriculum
According to the CS, teachers have been trained to roll out the competency-based curriculum (CBC), hence the protest by trade unionists does not hold water as what remains will be accomplished by the next government.
“We have already trained teachers for junior secondary schools. I am not going into the union issues because they will kill me. Anything I say, they take me to hell. Teachers of Grade 7 and Grade 8 have been trained,” he said.
“Since we are normalising in January 2023, by the grace of God, teachers for class seven will do school-based training to upgrade themselves.”
The CS at the same time told principals who have sent students home for fees to recall them immediately, arguing that schools have received funds.
“The government has already released money to the tune of Sh16.9 billion. Every school has money to use.”
Prof Magoha expressed confidence that as students break for half-term to allow elections to take place, the polls will not interfere with the academic calendar.
“If students break for home to allow elections to take place, we will ensure they get back as soon as possible. We will not allow them to waste time,” he said.
On the 10,000 CBC classrooms, he said if allowed, he would finish them after the polls before the next administration comes in.
“We have a target that we fixed at 10,000 classrooms. The first set was completed and I am very glad to say the second set is looking much better. We are at over 50 per cent and we are optimistic to finish them by election time.”
