The Kenya National Union of Teachers (KNUT) has welcomed a decision taken by the Ministry of Education to allow Primary Schools to host Junior Secondary schools.
With the Grade 6 pupils preparing to transition into the first batch of junior secondary, Education Cabinet Secretary Prof. George Magoha said they will not be required to move out of the current schools that they are in.
It is a decision that KNUT Chepkoilel branch executive secretary Sammy Bor has described as the best.
In an interview with uasingishunews.co.ke, Bor said the primary schools have sufficient infrastructure that only need deployment of more teachers to facilitate a smooth transition.
“The same children are currently in primary schools, and that is the place where we already have enough infrastructure to host the junior secondary schools,” said the KNUT official.
“Staffing is the only thing the Ministry of Education and the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) need to work on,” he added.
Bor, however, did not reveal the number of teachers needed in Uasin Gishu County to facilitate a smooth transition.
The country’s education sector is already facing an acute shortage of teachers, and it remains to be seen how the matter will be addressed with the first batch of the junior secondary schools expected to be rolled out in January 2023.
“We have so many teachers in primary schools who the government need to find a way on how they can be transferred to junior secondary schools,” noted the KNUT National Executive Committee (NEC) member for the Rift Valley region.
Junior Secondary School headache
He also expressed the need for a clear demarcation of primary schools that will be hosting the junior secondary schools, so as to ensure the learners understand and get a feel that there is a difference between the two.
“Some of the children are young and underage. Moving them to secondary school would have been a challenge,” Bor said.
The Education CS has been moving around the country to assess the preparedness of the public and private primary schools to host the junior secondary schools.
In a recent annual Private School meeting, CS Magoha said the private schools were free to set up, stand-alone junior secondary schools.
Earlier, the government had planned to host the junior secondary schools in the current secondary schools, but it backtracked.
Currently, there are at least 1.28 grade 6 pupils expected to transition to junior secondary schools in January 2023.
“I know you are still worried about the engagement process in terms of how the children aare going to be placed. It is work in progress and I will come out and tell you within the next three weeks,” Prof. Magoha told the annual private school meeting in Mombasa early this month.
