Education Cabinet Secretary Prof George Magoha yesterday urged Grade Six parents and learners to select their Junior Secondary Schools in good time to avoid a last-minute rush.

The CS said so far, the progress was good and should there be need to extend the August 30 deadline when all Grade Six learners are expected to have made their JSS, the Ministry will communicate.

“We are all Kenyans and when you want to identify a Kenyan, you will wait and see. Right now they are doing it but you know what is going to happen. There will be a time when they are all going to rush,” said Magoha.

He made the remarks yesterday after commissioning a Competency Based Curriculum (CBC) classroom at Muhuri Muchiri Secondary School in Nairobi.

“I can almost certainly tell you that we will sit down with my team and decide whether to add some more time because this is so critical. It is the first time this is happening. If there is need for us to re-assess the Tuesday deadline, we shall come back to you,” he added.

The CS adviced parents to take time with their children while selecting schools saying they must not only listen to their children because they are also intelligent but also still give them wisdom so that they both agree on schools to select.

“If the child insists on selecting very top schools at this time, it takes a day or two for you to tell the child, no this is not necessary for now, you should wait for another three years,” he insisted.

Magoha said the exercise is not just about selection but it also requires time so that the right schools can be picked.

“But like I have said there is still time and if there is need for us to extend we will. We have not complained, it is going on at the rate which is satisfactory,” he said.

Each learner is expected to select two national, two regional, two county, four Sub county and two private junior schools.

Head teachers with the 2022 Kenya Primary School Education Assessment (KPSEA) candidates are expected to log onto the Kenya National Examination Council (KNEC) assessment portal to access the list of schools and guide learners to select their JSS.

Magoha explains learners will be offered placement in all existing registered public and private secondary schools while public secondary schools, which share a compound with a public primary school will utilise the available classrooms in the primary school as additional learning space.

Private secondary schools

The existing registered private secondary schools will be available for learners whose parents will pay the fees charged by the private secondary schools.

“JSS established from existing registered private primary schools which have expanded their facilities to accommodate JSS will be available for learners whose parents will pay the fees charged by the private secondary schools,” explained the CS.

He said that the existing registered public and private secondary schools will not require re-registration to offer JSS education.

The CS said transition of learners to JSS under CBC, will be guided by the assessment outcomes of KPSEA, which will be a combination of the learners’ scores attained from the School Based Assessments (SBA) administered at Grades 4, 5 and 6 and National summative assessment to be administered in November.

Accumulative accounting

The SBA for each of the three Grades, Grades 4, 5 and 6, will constitute 20 per cent, with the SBAs cumulatively accounting for 60 per cent of scores to be used in reporting as learners transit to JSS.

KNEC has already administered SBAs to the 2022 Grade 6 group at Grade 4 in 2020 and at Grade 5 in 2021.

KNEC is in the process of administering the Grade 6 SBA, which started on July 18 and will be completed by September 9.

At the end of Grade 6, KNEC will administer a summative assessment to all the 2022 Grade 6 learners from November 28 to 30.

The assessment will contribute 40 per cent of a learner’s score as they transit to JSS.

KNEC will assess the 13 subjects offered at upper primary level using five papers.

The include Mathematics, English Language, Kiswahili/ Kenyan Sign Language, Integrated Science which combines four subjects namely Science and Technology, Agriculture, Home Science as well as Physical and Health Education.

The fifth subject to be examined will be Creative Arts and Social Studies which combines Social Studies, Christian/Islamic/Hindu Religious Education, Art and Craft as well as Music.