Education Stakeholders Concerned On Uncertainty In implementation of junior secondary under CBC
Uncertainty surrounds the implementation of the competency-based curriculum (CBC) in junior secondary, causing concern among parents, teachers, and other education stakeholders.
Concerns have focused on the content, domicile, infrastructure, funding, and placement of the new level of education, which will be implemented in secondary schools in January of next year.
On Wednesday last week, Education Cabinet Secretary George Magoha had to come out to clarify that junior secondary will be in both boarding and day schools.
He was responding to earlier comments by senior officials, including Government Spokesman Cyrus Oguna, that junior secondary will only be offered in day schools and that learners in senior secondary will only be admitted to boarding schools.
According to the CBC, junior secondary consists of Grades 7, 8, and 9, after which students will progress to senior secondary (Grade 10,11 and 12). The length of university study has been reduced from four to three years.
Prof Magoha also stated that the ministry has identified 1,500 primary schools that will host junior secondary schools, noting that the institutions have adequate learning and teaching facilities as well as land for physical expansion.
However, there are still gaps in the plan that have yet to be filled. Congestion in public secondary schools has been a persistent issue in recent years.
Prof Magoha’s mentioned primary schools have also remained a secret, despite the fact that the transition is only six months away.
According to the report of the taskforce appointed by Prof Magoha to advise on CBC implementation, 1,250,649 learners in the pioneer CBC class are expected to transition to Grade 7 alongside 1,320,395 others who will join Form One under the 8-4-4, for a total of 2,571,044 new learners.
This is bound to put additional strain on secondary schools’ already overburdened facilities. The planned double intakes in 2023 and 2024, as the last two 8-4-4 classes leave primary school, will increase enrollment from 4,381,701 to 6,029,168 in the first year, and to 7,649,943 the following year.
According to taskforce data, there will be a shortage of 1,489,144 secondary school seats next year.
This is the chasm that the government is attempting to bridge with the construction of 10,000 classrooms. Over 6,000 have been completed so far.
The project was started late last year, and the Jubilee administration has only two and a half months to finish it.
“The anticipated enrolment increase will also require expansion of laboratories, libraries, wash facilities and related resources. Effective transition, therefore, calls for nationwide and local context-specific planning to ensure all learners are equitably placed,” the report reads.
Worryingly, none of the 47 counties has enough secondary school space for the combined 2.5 million students graduating from Grade 6 and Standard 8 in November.
With 93,703 available spaces, Kakamega leads the way, followed by Bungoma (83,243) and Nairobi (83,062). Lamu has the fewest (4,634), followed by Isiolo (6,338) and Taita Taveta (4,638). (6,897).
Recognizing the issue, the government has encouraged private schools, particularly those in urban areas, to establish stand-alone junior secondary sections to provide more space. Some of them have already started junior high wings. According to the most recent official data, there are 203,448 students enrolled in the 1,301 private secondary schools.
The ministry has not yet issued placement guidelines, but the Nation understands that they will be released once finalized.
The fact that there are 6,776 sub-county schools as opposed to 1,378 county, 776 extra-county, and 112 national schools guides the thinking behind enrolling more students in day schools.
Day school enrollment has been impacted by the misconception that their students do not perform well in national examinations. “This is not factual as confirmed by data on KCSE exam results,” the taskforce noted.
While the Kenya National Examinations Council (Knec) has developed a competency-based assessment framework, the ministry has yet to provide guidance on how the results will be used for school placement in various categories.
Formative assessments at the end of Grades 4, 5, and 6 will account for 60% of a learner’s final grade.
The final 40 will come from a summative assessment administered at the end of Grade 6—the first of which will be administered in November under the name Kenya Primary School Education Assessment (KPSEA), effectively replacing KCPE.
Candidate registration for the test ended yesterday. The formative assessments are administered and scored by teachers in the classroom, but the summative assessments will be administered and graded by Knec.
Competition for the few places in top-performing national and extra-county schools, which are better equipped and staffed than county and sub-county schools, is usually fierce.
Some stakeholders warn that CBC’s problems are due to implementation rather than the curriculum itself.
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Another sticking point is that the allocation for the free day secondary education program was increased from Sh62.2 million to Sh64.4 billion in the 2022/23 Budget presented by Treasury Cabinet Secretary Ukur Yatani, despite the huge increase in learners.
At Sh22,224 per learner per year, at least Sh27 billion should have been allocated. Some students, however, will attend private schools and thus will not require government assistance.
Finally, secondary schools have been dealing with a teacher shortage for years. Another source of concern is that more teachers are leaving the service than the government can replace.
Education Stakeholders Concerned On Uncertainty In implementation of junior secondary under CBC