Pupils in Grade Six who will be transiting to junior secondary schools in the new CBC – Competency Based Curriculum will have to apply for the slots in order to get admitted, Education Cabinet Secretary George Magoha has said.
The students are expected to transit to Grade Seven in January 2023.
“First of all, the children will have to apply and we are going to tell them the number of slots available. We are almost completing the process. We encourage the private schools, which we will say are ready for junior secondary schools, to allow the children to apply on the public platform so that they are placed,” Prof Magoha said.
He was speaking at Moi Educational Centre after checkup to determine private schools’ preparedness to host Junior Secondary schools. The CS said that Grade Seven learners will not board in the new schools.
Altogether, Prof Magoha said the government plans to place some Grade Seven learners from public schools in private schools in order to ease the high competition that might arise due to double intake which is expected in January.
The admission of Form Ones under the 8-4-4 system, and Grade Seven learners simultaneously is expected to drain existing infrastructure. “Parents should not panic over the Grade Seven students since both the government and private schools will accommodate all the students. With 10,000 classes from public and another 5,000 from private schools, we will manage the transition,” Prof Magoha added.
He said there was no need for parents to transfer the students to different institutions, saying that “competition will only surface during joining the senior secondary schools in Grade 10”. It would be very important for the parents who already have their children in private schools to retain them in junior secondary facilities that are established within those schools so that the cut-throat competition that comes after Standard Eight be postponed to Year 10.
“It is just one additional year, so they will even be a little bit older than usual when they start competing now for the Senior school,” said Magoha.
“Who said that our teachers are not well-trained? Even in this school, we have had 12-year-olds before and even now. I am a doctor and I can tell you that the difference between a 12- and 14-year-old is not that serious. They even behave better,” he added.
Construction of CBC classrooms in public schools are in progress, with 1,296 out of 5,000 classes completed. Magoha promised to ensure that all classrooms were completed before the government handed them over to primary schools.