Junior secondary schools will be classified according to the number of competency based curriculum (CBC) pathways offered in the institutions, Education Cabinet Secretary George Magoha has said.
The three major pathways through which a person can influence their career are Arts and Sports Science; Social sciences such as Languages or History along with Technology related courses. These provide an opportunity for those interested in non-traditional subjects that may not have been considered before.
While touring Nyeri County, Prof Magoha said well-established schools will have three pathways while day schools and other smaller boarding schools will have two.
This means all the 103 national schools and the extra county schools will offer all three pathways while the smaller institutions will have two. Concerning construction of more classrooms to accommodate junior secondary students, Prof Magoha said some classes had been completed while others were at the roofing stage. The government plans to build 10,000 new classrooms, with 5,000 completed by April in the first phase of the project.
The CS lashed out at some contractors who he said had delayed completing the classrooms. He warned that “lazy and incompetent” contractors will not be tolerated.
Speaking at Mutira Girls Secondary School in Kirinyaga County, Prof Magoha told county commissioners and county directors of education to ensure tenders of such contractors be terminated immediately. In Nyeri, the CS said, 31 classes are being built.
Prof Magoha lamented that students had been torching learning institutions on trivial issues, leading to massive destruction of property.
He urged them to concentrate on classwork and leave school peacefully if they feel offended instead of destroying facilities.
While secondary school teachers will be trained on CBC implementation in March, the learning institutions are still dealing with an acute shortage.
According to TSC data, there is a total shortage of 114,581 teachers across the country. Secondary schools need 64,737 teachers while primary schools have a shortage of 49,653 teachers. It is still unclear the criteria that will be used to place students in junior secondary schools, as some have better facilities than others.
Secondary school has been split into two levels; junior and senior. Junior secondary will comprise Grades Seven, Eight and Nine while senior secondary will be Grade 10, 11 and 12.
Junior secondary students will be introduced to 12 core subjects — English, Kiswahili or Kenyan Sign Language (depending on the school), mathematics and integrated science. They’ll also learn health education skills in order for them prepare themselves wisely before going into their future careers as they continues studying other important areas such as social studies which covers geographically relevant topics like Africa’s natural resources; business studies teaches you how companies work while agriculture lessons provide insight about what people need from this world food supply chain idea that we have today.
Information and Communication Technology (ICT) will be integrated and used as a delivery tool for all the subjects. They will also have optional subjects, which include visual arts, performing arts, home science, computer science, foreign languages (German, French, Mandarin and Arabic), Kenyan Sign Language and indigenous languages.
