CBC Transitioning And Domiciling of Junior Secondary School (JSS)

Junior Secondary School (JSS) Grades 7, 8 and 9 will be domiciled  in the Secondary Education level. This is informed by the fact that it is at Junior Secondary School that learners will need to deepen their understanding of the broad CBC curriculum and choose the  Pathways and Tracks to follow in Senior Secondary School.

According to Executive report that was released at KICD the Primary School level lacks capacity, both in human resource and  infrastructure (especially for teaching sciences), to facilitate the  expected depth of engagement with the JSS CBC content.

Domiciling JSS at Secondary School level will optimize teacher utilization as they will teach at both Junior and Senior Secondary  school levels. This recommendation is aligned to other countries  within the East African Community and international best  practices.

Double Transition 

Learners who, in 2022, will be in primary school Grade 6 under the 2-6-6-3 Competency Based Curriculum (CBC) and those in  Standard 8 of the 8-4-4 education system will concurrently  transition to Junior Secondary Grade 7 and Secondary Form 1,  respectively.

For effectiveness of transition from Primary to  Secondary Education of the CBC and 8-4-4 cohorts and domiciling  of JSS in the Basic Education structure, critical issues that will  influence the double transitions need to be addressed.

These  include: a 27% increase in Secondary School learner population  in Year 2023 from 4,381,701 to 6,029,168; trends of increased  transition from Primary School between Year 2023 and 2025;  learner characteristics at transition including changes in psycho social maturity and age decline from an average of 14-year-olds  to 12-year-olds; need for expansion of Secondary School human  resource and infrastructure as well as funding of the Secondary Education level.

Recommendations

In this context, the Taskforce makes several recommendations on strategy and two (2) under regulations and  policy respectively:  

1. Domicile JSS (Grades 7, 8 and 9) in the secondary school  structure. 
2. Undertake progressive expansion of capacities of existing  secondary schools that have adequate land to accommodate  more learners in 2023. 
3. Make provision for primary schools that have adequate  infrastructure to establish a Junior Secondary school.
4. Merge under-enrolled primary schools, in close proximity, and  improve the infrastructure in one to create a Junior Secondary  School. 
5. Develop a framework to facilitate sharing and management of  infrastructure among primary and secondary schools that will  be established in the same compound. 
6. Placement to Junior Secondary Schools be based on formative  and summative assessments.  
7. Review the Secondary Education Placement guidelines to  provide clear criteria, including the use of assessments for  placement of learners in Junior Secondary School. 
8. Develop a national school transport policy and facilitate  establishment of pooled school transport system, where  possible, to enhance day schooling.  
9. Enhance capacity of the School Equipment Production Unit  (SEPU) to facilitate provision of resources for Science kits and  other related materials for effective implementation of the  Junior and Senior Secondary Education curriculum. 
10. Develop regulations on Minimum Quality Education Norms  and Standards for Basic Education. 
11. Establish multi-agency National, County and Sub-County  Transition Committees for effective transition and placement  of learners from Primary to Junior Secondary. 
12. Consider, on need basis, introduction of Double-Track strategy  as an option to manage increased secondary school enrolment.