Fresh details have emerged that the first cohort of junior secondary learners will study in day schools and not boarding, Technical advisor in the curriculum reforms department, Ruth Mugambi has said.
Grade seven learners will be domiciled in the available secondary schools and will not be taken to primary schools. This means that they will be taught by trained secondary school teachers.
The first cohort will transition to Grade Seven in January under the competency-based curriculum (CBC).
The State department overseeing the implementation of CBC said on Monday that learners will be posted to junior high schools based on proximity to their former primary school, subject selection and performance in primary school.
This marks the clearest indication yet that the government will open boarding schools to day schoolers in order to host junior secondary.
“Posting of learners to junior high will be informed by the capability of parents to transport a child to the school they have chosen,” Ruth Mugambi, the technical adviser to the Principal Secretary on CBC matters, told journalists.
The Ministry of Education statistics indicate that at least 70 per cent of secondary schools are day schools at the sub-county level and the government is investing to equip them with the necessary infrastructure.
However, Deputy Director in charge of Infrastructure in Secondary Schools; Lawrence Karundini indicated that boarding facilities may be required at the senior secondary school because of learners’ specialisation at that level.
“Maybe at the senior secondary level we may need boarding facilities but right now, the junior secondary is basically a day school affair. So, the classrooms will be in place but the dormitories may not be needed at this point,” said Karundini.