Government Offers Incentives For Junior Secondary To Private Schools.
According to Education Cabinet Secretary Prof. George Magoha, parents must bear the cost of junior secondary (JSS) education in private schools.
Despite Magoha’s statement that the government will not fund private schools to build new facilities, the CS appears to have provided incentives to entice private investors.
Magoha stated during the guidelines’ release last week that the government will place students in private schools under the new JSS admission rules.
And Magoha’s statement is seen as a major incentive for private schools to expand their capacity after it became clear that the government may not be able to build all of the required classrooms to admit the 2.5 million children who will transition next year.
According to Magoha, approximately 2,512,467 learners are expected to enter Secondary Education in January 2023, in accordance with the Government policy of 100% transition of learners into Basic Education.
These include 1,268,830 Grade 6 learners in 2022 who will transition to JSS (Grade 7) under the CBC; and 1,243,637 Standard 8 learners in 2022 who will transition to Form 1 under the 8-4-4 system.
Basic calculations revealed that the government would need approximately 20,000 new classrooms to comfortably accommodate all of the students expected to transition.
On the other hand, Magoha stated that approximately 7,000 new classes have been built across the country thus far, leaving a huge deficit that stakeholders now argue is the basis for incentives for private investors to step in.
The allocation of Sh8 billion for the construction of classrooms in public primary schools was meant to provide hope for the transition to Competency-Based Education.
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Despite spending billions of dollars, the government has failed to meet the 20,000 classroom target in time for the transition of 1.2 million students to junior secondary school in 2023.
Government Offers Incentives For Junior Secondary To Private Schools
