The ministry of education created a criterion for selecting students who will join Junior Secondary School in 2023 from Grade Six.

Merit-based selection criteria with affirmative action.

The outgoing Education Cabinet Secretary George Magoha says the selection process will be merit-based with equity, affirmative action, and capacity considerations.

"Selection for admission of learners into JSS will be premised on the principles of merit (performance in Kenya Primary School Education Assessment - KPSEA); equity (affirmative action where required); choice of schools by learners on advice by parents and teachers; and institutional declared capacity," The CS Education said.

Subsequently, learners with special needs will follow their predetermined path, while those with other learning disorders will transition based on their readiness for transition.

Students must pass cumulative tests and Kenya Primary School Education Assessment.

The merit-based performance will be based on national summative assessment accounting for 40% and cumulative school assessment accounting for 60%. The cumulative assessment test will aggregate 20% of the student's score in Grade Four, Five and Six.  

The 40% required in the National Summative assessment will be obtained after students in Grade 6 sit for the Kenya Primary School Education Assessment (KPSEA) in November. Students will sit for five papers and be tested on 13 subjects with a total of 500 marks.

Subjects to be tested in Kenya Primary School Education Assessment. 

• Mathematics

• English

• Kiswahili/Kenya Sign Language

• Science

• Integrated Science (Science and Technology, Agriculture, Home Science, Physical and Health Education)

• Creative Arts and Social Studies (Social Studies, Christian Religious Education, Islamic Religious Education, Hindu Religious Education, Art and Craft, Music)

Special needs students will be considered during the CBC transition.

However, special needs learners who can follow the normal education path will have ordinary papers adapted to their special needs areas.

However, learners with severe disabilities, such as severe autism, deafness or blindness, will follow the stage-based process with more flexibility based on their ability to transition.

After attaining the required grades in both areas, students will join Grade 7 in the Junior Secondary School (JSS) of their choice.

According to the Cabinet secretary, students transitioning from Grade six will be placed in both public and private secondary schools. 

However, parents will meet the education costs should they place their children in private institutions.

“Parents who choose to take their children to private schools will meet the cost of learning charged by the private schools,” said Prof. Magoha.

Prof. Magoha stated that the transition to junior high school would observe the 100% transition objectives. Consequently, high schools that share a compound with primary schools will utilize primary classes.

“To provide additional learning space, public secondary schools which share a compound with a public primary school will utilize the available classroom space in primary schools,” said Prof Magoha.

The sharing of classes will help address the shortage of classrooms during the double intake season.

The ministry of education disclosed that 1,247,140 CBC students would join high school simultaneously as 1,323,343 students transitioning through the 8-4-4 system, a total of 2,571,483 students.

Subsequently, the ministry will undertake a double intake approach for both groups of secondary school students.

This approach will follow a similar pattern when the education system transitioned from the 7-4-2-3 to the 8-4-4 system in the 1990s.

The ministry notes that the transition introduced congestion and complexities of handling two groups of students following distinct curricula. This double intake requires expansion of facilities and hiring and training more teachers.

The transition to Junior Secondary School will put pressure on existing infrastructure that hardly caters to secondary students during the 8-4-4 system when schools had only four classes.

Subsequently, school boards, communities, and parents will be required to mobilize resources to accommodate the additional number of students. This includes the construction of dormitories, laboratories, ablution, and dining halls. 

Thus, parents will be required to dig deeper into their pockets to cater to the additional costs since they are the primary source of school revenue.

The Ministry of Education had begun the construction of 10,000 classes, but the project is yet to complete. 

“In the spirit of partnership and collaboration, parents, communities and schools’ boards of management are expected to mobilize resources to provide the additional facilities that will be required for smooth implementation of CBC,” the Ministry stated.

The Ministry has started training secondary school teachers on implementing the CBC. 

The Ministry noted that transitioning to Junior Secondary School would introduce younger students to the secondary school system. These youngsters “require socio-psychological support and personalized attention,” unlike older students.

Additionally, the transition will introduce more instruction areas, unlike when students had to take only 13 subjects in Form one and seven after selection.

The Ministry started training in April 2022 using a smart teaching approach to build capacity for secondary school teachers to handle the new curriculum.

“The Teachers Service Commission, which coordinates CBC teacher training sessions in collaboration with other agencies, uses a smart cascade approach to undertake the training,” the Ministry said. “The training involves master trainers who are identified from various agencies, namely, TSC, MoE, KICD, KNEC, KISE, CEMASTEA and KEMI.”

Most parents are concerned about additional costs associated with the CBC curriculum as primary school CBC students transition to Junior Secondary Schools.

However, the ministry clarified that CBC instruction does not require buying materials or downloading them from the internet.

“The curriculum content can be effectively taught without requiring parents or guardians to spend more buying things from the market or downloading materials from the Internet.”

Accordingly, parents and teachers can take advantage of materials in their environment because CBC is based on the learners’ immediate environment.

Additionally, teachers are not restricted by the syllabus when selecting learning activities. Thus, they should consider their environment when preparing their lessons.

“The knowledge or ideas taught are not restricted to any environment. When a teacher plans a lesson, he or she should consider different ways to deliver the content. The teacher must think about activities that facilitate learning and relate to learners’ experiences.”