KUPPET Exposes Junior Secondary Transition Challenges As Schools Reopen
Thousands of continuing students will return to school on January 30, while 1,253,577 students who sat the first Kenya Primary School Education Assessment (KPSEA) will advance to junior secondary school (Grade Seven).
As per the government’s 100% transition policy, 1,233,852 Form One students will return to school the following month.
Mr. Paul Rotich, secretary of the Kenya Union of Post Primary Teachers (Kuppet) in Nandi County, expressed concern that the majority of parents across the country are experiencing financial challenges and that some students may drop out of school as a result.
“For the last two years, they have not had breathing space due to short school terms that opened and closed at short intervals thus exhausting their financial resources,” said Rotich.
Rotich stated that a number of parents are asked to purchase new uniforms for their children as they transition from Junior Secondary to Secondary schools under the CBC initiative.
“The government is not well prepared for new challenges coming due to CBC. There is no infrastructure, and staffing is low. There is a need for additional classrooms, laboratories, libraries, and teachers,” noted Rotich.
According to him, the government has only assigned one teacher per class, so parents will be compelled to hire more on a Board of Management (BoM) basis at their expense.
Parents whose chldren are entering Junior Secondary will need approximately Sh 10,000 to purchase a new uniform. Other expenses include textbooks and other educational resources.
The administration will spend Sh9.6 billion on capitation handouts for around 1.2 million junior secondary school students (JSS).
The funds will be utilized for the first and second terms of 2023, with each student getting a Sh15,000 capitation every year.
In the next financial year, the government would pay Sh18 billion on junior secondary school learners’ capitation allowances.
Of the Sh15,000 that will be released for each learner, Sh4,000 will be spent on infrastructure development, with laboratories receiving the highest priority.
KUPPET Exposes Junior Secondary Transition Challenges As Schools Reopen
