Junior Secondary Schools Missing In Selection Portal.
Tens of junior high schools have been excluded from the Competency-Based Curriculum (CBC) selection list.
With only one term remaining ahead of the transition from 8-4-4 to CBC, the situation has worsened due to the public schools’ inability to finish new classrooms.
On Tuesday, August 30, Education PS Jwan Julius announced that the application portal would be updated for schools that match the needed standards over the next ten days.
He stated, “In the long run, we will have captured all of them, so there is no need for fear.”
The Education Cabinet Secretary, George Magoha, has already extended the deadline until September 10.
However, several schools claim they have not yet prepared sufficient room for the transitioning students.
Others argue that the classes allotted would be inadequate due to the large number of sixth-graders scheduled to enrol in junior high schools.
Eskimos Kobia, the new secretary-general of the National Parents Association, concurred that everything was not right.
He provided the example of Naivasha, where each school received one new classroom in the first phase, although most public sixth-grade classes have more than 400 kids.
“We will engage the ministry in the coming days regarding listing all junior secondary schools, school fees, and the timely completion of classrooms,” he said.
Frederic Osewe, director of education in Nakuru, stated that all public schools in the county were included in the portal.
He stated that private schools not on the list had not met the requirements.
“We have over 180 public schools from the county in the portal and are on the second phase of CBC class construction,” he said.
According to one Naivasha principal, other schools were omitted from the list, leaving parents and children confused.
The teacher stated, “We are pleased that the government has reconsidered the deadline, as tens of schools are missing from the selection portal.”
Primary schools that stand-alone (not adjacent to secondary schools) were the most affected.
So they will have to use the limited classrooms to accommodate the increasing number of students.
A public school principal in Kisumu asserted that their institution’s name was omitted from the selection list.
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The Kenya Union of Post Primary Education Teachers (Kuppet) held the ministry accountable for the lack of procedure clarity.
Zablon Awange, executive secretary of the Kisumu branch, stated, “The additional time granted by CS Magoha must be utilised to correct these irregularities; else, many students may be denied access to education.”
He requested that private school pupils be permitted to attend public schools of their choosing.
The national chairman of the Kenya Private Schools Association, Charles Ochome, stated that the process is ongoing and that all issues will be resolved.
Junior Secondary Schools Missing In Selection Portal
