Junior Secondary Schools To Have Their Own Principals

Starting next year, Junior secondary schools will have their own school heads, deputy, and senior teachers.

Professor Fatuma Chege, the Principal Secretary for State Department for Implementation of Curriculum Reforms said the schools will also be domiciled in secondary schools. He said these following the confusion on where Grade 7, 8, and 9 will be placed next year as well as its management.

The confusion arose after the Basic Education Principal Secretary Julius Jwan said that the junior secondary classes will be domiciled both in secondary and primary schools. Juan also said the current classes used by class 7 and 8 will be used to host Grade 7, 8, and 9 next year.

“Classrooms used by pupils of class seven and eight will remain vacant due to the introduction of the CBC. But the classrooms will not go to waste because they are public resources. Instead, they will be used by students of Junior secondary schools,” Jwan said.

According to Prof. Chege, if for any reason, a Junior Secondary School class will be accommodated in surplus classrooms in a primary school, that is merely accommodation, they do not belong to the primary school, they are domiciled in the secondary sub-sector

She added that the section will therefore have its own Board and that if the government so wishes to establish a Junior Secondary School using the available infrastructure in a primary school, then that primary school will be having a Junior Secondary School.

“Junior secondary school will be domiciled in secondary schools. There should be no confusion between domiciling, hosting, or accommodating. If you are accommodated or hosted, you are a guest, but when you are domiciled, then you belong there legally,” said PS Fatuma Chege.

Prof. Chege who sought to clarify that the ongoing debate about the placement of the pioneer batch of Grade Six candidates under 2-6-3-3-3 curriculum to Junior Secondary Schools, stressed that as much as there are primary schools that will host Junior Secondary Schools, the management and the administration in such instances, will be independent of that of the primary school.

Education Cabinet Secretary, George Magoha, had already announced a fresh 10-month training for teachers who will handle the upcoming Grade 7.

A total of 60,000 teachers are targeted in the training. with over 120,000 primary school teachers already trained to handle Grade 6.

Last year the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) also announced that it will train 60,000 secondary school teachers in April 2022 to handle junior secondary.