"Junior Secondary to be domiciled in primary schools" - President Ruto orders after receiving CBC taskforce report

The Government now says that Junior Secondary (Grade 7, Grade 8 and Grade 9) of the Competency-Based Curriculum (CBC) will be domiciled in the existing primary schools.

This comes after the Presidential Working Party on Education Reform on Thursday, December 1 presented an interim report to President William Ruto.

In its report, which the President has endorsed, the taskforce recommended that the Grade 6 Kenya Primary School Education Assessment (KPSEA) should not be used for placement in Junior Secondary School.

As a result, KPSEA will now be used as an assessment to monitor learning progress and provide feedback to education sector players on areas that require intervention.

Consequently, the government has now ordered that an extra classroom and laboratory be built in every primary school, with the construction of the two facilities given priority within the next one year.

Members of Parliament are asked to work towards providing support for the extra facilities. Meanwhile, primary schools and neighbouring secondary schools will share laboratories and other facilities with junior secondary schools," reads a statement from State House Spokesperson Hussein Mohamed.

Retooling of teachers

Further, the Ministry of Education has been directed to work with the Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development (KICD) and the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) towards upgrading teachers to ensure that they are CBC compliant. Priority will be given to teachers handling Grade 7 learners.

Lastly, the Government has pledged to recruit additional 30,000 teachers by January 2023 to facilitate the transition and bridge the teacher shortage gap.

The taskforce has up to March 2023 to submit the final report.