CBC junior secondary can only be in primary school
By MUNGAI KIHANYA
The Sunday Nation
Nairobi,
13 November 2022
It is unfortunate
that our government does not seem to see the urgency of resolving the
question of where children currently in grade 6 will continue for their
junior secondary education. Two weeks after taking office, President
William Ruto formed a Working Party on Education Reforms which, among
other things, was tasked with finding a lasting way forward for these
children.
The Presidential
Working Party has just concluded public hearings in all 47 counties but
time is speedily running out. There are about 1,400,000 children in
grade 6 waiting to proceed to junior secondary on 23rd January 2023 –
only two and a half months from now – and government is yet to decide
where these children will go to.
Over the last two
years, the Ministry of education built a total of 10,000 so-called “CBC
classrooms” in selected secondary schools. They were intended to host
the grade 7 class. Even though the ministry’s own regulations state that
the maximum number per class is 45, these rooms can only accommodate at
most 50 children each. That makes a total of 500,000. Therefore, about
900,000 grade 7 children have nowhere to go.
At the same time,
there are about 1,225,000 children in the 8-4-4 standard 8 also waiting
to join the very same secondary schools on the same date – 23rd
January 2023! Therefore, the form 1 classrooms have already been
earmarked for this group.
In reality, however,
most the secondary schools have already started using the CBC classrooms
to decongest their 8-4-4 facilities! In short: there is no way the grade
7 children can be accommodated in the secondary schools. There is simply
no space for them. In these circumstances, the Working Party must stop
talking and start working!
From the above
numbers, it is obvious that grade 7 can only be hosted in the primary
schools. After all, once the current 8-4-4 standard 8 group exists, they
will leave a vacant classroom behind. In addition, the subjects taught
at junior secondary are exactly the same as those of primary school.
Therefore, it will be relatively easy for the primary school teacher to
handle them.
However, there is no
time to rest: we must remember that junior secondary up to grade 9. So,
in the next two years, we must construct additional rooms in primary
schools to accommodate this class. And not only that; we shall need to
employ more teachers to teach the extra grade.
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