Kenya Private Schools Association members resolve to build more junior secondary schools (JSS).
Following assurances from the government that they will be considered in the allocation of students transitioning from Grade Six in primary school, private school owners have resolved to build more junior secondary schools (JSS).
According to Kenya Private Schools Association (KPSA) chairman Charles Ochome, additional schools will be built to accommodate all learners transitioning to JSS under the Competency-Based Curriculum (CBC).
There are 10,000 private schools in Kenya, but only 4,000 are members of the association.
Mr Ochome said at the end of a three-day annual conference in Mombasa that the government had assured them that Grade Seven students would be placed in their institutions.
“Education Cabinet Secretary Prof. George Magoha and other ministry officials took us through the requirements and we are very happy with the progress,” said Mr. Ochome.
He assured the government that the proprietors will build and equip more schools to help achieve its five million classroom target.
The government will outline the guidelines for the placement of 1.28 million learners who will be transitioning to JSS next year in the next three weeks.
Although 20,000 classrooms are needed, the government has only built 6,494 in the first phase of the infrastructure upgrade project. The second phase begins the following week.
Prof Magoha said on Tuesday that private education stakeholders should ensure that there are stand-alone schools for the students who will transition in January.
“We had said JSS shall be hosted in secondary schools, but we have walked back on that because of the circumstances in the private sector. We are telling private sector primary schools that you can create stand-alone junior high schools. It’s a win-win situation,” said the CS.
However, in the public sector, Prof. Magoha stated that JSS will be held in secondary schools “because we don’t have enough money to hire extra teachers.”
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The CS assured the 1,000 KPSA members meeting in Mombasa of the government’s support for the implementation of CBC in junior high.
Capitation, on the other hand, will not be extended to pupils and students in private schools, he said, after private school stakeholders urged the government to ensure private school learners receive capitation.
Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development (KICD) Chief Executive Charles Ong’ondo urged private learning institution owners to be familiar with CBC.
Prof. Ong’ondo stated that the CBC is promoting 21st-century skills such as communication and collaboration, creativity and imagination, critical thinking and problem solving, citizenship, learning to learn, digital literacy, and self-efficacy.
Kenya Private Schools Association members resolve to build more junior secondary schools (JSS).
