NAIROBI, Kenya, Dec 1 – The government has directed that Junior secondary schools be domiciled in the existing primary schools.
The directive from the Office of the President comes after the Presidential Working Party on Education Reform on Thursday submitted their interim report to President William Ruto, following months of public participation.
The Education Reform team led by Professor Munavu had been tasked to review the much talked about Competency Based Curriculum (CBC), which was pitting parents against teachers.
The President directed the Ministry of Education to provide the necessary guidelines on how this will be done.
“The government has given the following directive that Junior Secondary Schools (Grade 7,8 and 9) will be domiciled in the existing primary schools,” Statehouse Spokesperson Hussein Mohammed stated.
As part of measures to ensure that schools are well equipped to handle the anticipated increased number of learners, the President ordered the construction of an extra classroom and laboratory in every primary school.
He said priority should be given to construction of laboratories, which should be done within a year.
In the meantime, the President said that primary schools neighbouring secondary schools will share laboratories and other facilities with junior secondary schools.
“Members of Parliament are asked to work towards providing support for the extra facilities,” he stated.
The Head of State further directed the Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development and the Teachers Service Commission to work on modalities of fast tracking retooling teachers to ensure the country has sufficient numbers who are compliant with CBC.
“Priority will be given to those teachers handling Grade 7 learners,” the President’s statement reads.
The Government also reported that they will recruit an additional 30,000 teachers by January 2023 to facilitate the transition and bridge the teacher shortage.
The Presidential Working Party on Education Reform has upto March 2023 to submit its final report.
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