It is now official that Junior Secondary Schools will be domiciled in high schools.

State Department for Implementation of Curriculum Reforms PS Fatuma Chege yesterday set the record straight on ongoing debate about placement of the pioneer CBC class—Grade Six candidates—under 2-6-3-3-3 curriculum to Junior Secondary Schools.

She emphasised that as much as there are primary institutions that will host some Junior Secondary Schools, the management and administration in such instances, will be independent from that of the primary.

“There should be no confusion between domiciling, hosting or accommodating. If you are accommodated, you are a guest, similarly when you are hosted, you are a guest, but when you are domiciled, then you belong there legally,” she emphasised.

The PS said if for any reason, a Junior Secondary School class will be accommodated in surplus classrooms in a primary wing, that is merely accommodation, they do not belong to the primary school, they are domiciled in the secondary sub-sector.

 She said the section will, therefore, have their own board and that if the government so wishes to establish a Junior Secondary School using the available infrastructure in a primary school, then that institution will be having a Junior Secondary School,” said Chege.   

March deadline

She was speaking at St Maria Goretti Ruruguti Secondary School in Othaya, Nyeri county, where she commissioned the first complete classroom built under the Competency-Based Curriculum project.

A total of 166 classrooms were to be constructed in the county. In total, the State is putting up 11,000 classrooms countrywide at a cost of Sh8.1 billion.

New classes will provide additional learning space for the more than a million students set to join Junior Secondary School next year, as the country shifts from the 8-4-4 to CBC.

During the inspection tour, Chege was accompanied by Sub-County Education Officers, Deputy County Commissioners and chiefs.

Nyeri County Director of Education Sabina Aroni noted that the county had attained the 50 per cent mark of project accomplishment.

 Aroni said an additional three new classrooms would be commissioned by the end of the week.

  She appealed to other contractors to ensure the classrooms are completed before the March deadline.

 Director stressed that contractors who qualify to implement Phase two of the project will be vetted based on their performance in the first phase.

  “We will consider work delivered on this first phase to vet contractors who will take up phase two project. Those who deliver will be given first priority.

We are still working towards ensuring that all classrooms are completed by March 6 so that we can comfortably switch our focus to administering the national exams when that time comes,” said Aroni.

 The Government had initially planned to construct a total of 199 new classrooms in Nyeri, as the country prepared to admit the first batch of students into Junior Secondary School in 2023. 

More classrooms

State had set aside Sh8 billion to help put up a total of 11,600 classrooms as the country shifts from the 8-4-4 system to CBC.

  Construction of the classes was expected to kick off last month and end in April.

  During last year’s Mashujaa Day celebrations, President Uhuru Kenyatta announced plans by his administration to construct more than 10,000 classrooms ahead of the transition of learners from primary to Junior Secondary School.

 Uhuru Directed the National Treasury to make available Sh8.1 billion for the project.

 “Ministry of Education, jointly with their Interior and National Treasury counterparts, shall establish a framework for the construction of the over 10,000 classrooms needed to provide the additional learning space required for the one million new students set to join Junior Secondary,” said the Head of State in his Mashujaa Day speech.

By next year, CBC pioneer learners are expected to join Junior Secondary school, after sitting their Grade Six national examinations, while the present Class Seven learners under the old 8-4-4 system, will join Form One after sitting Kenya Certificate of Primary Education Examinations.

– KNA