Fear not, Magoha tells parents over JSS learners’ transition
Education Cabinet Secretary Prof George Magoha yesterday downplayed fears that Grade Six learners set to join Junior Secondary Schools will be too young to cope.
Magoha made the remarks yesterday as he urged parents with Grade Six learners to critically and cautiously engage their children before choosing JSS they want to join next year.
He reiterated that the Kenya National Examination Council has opened the JSS selection portal and urged parents to check it out to know schools in their localities.
“It might sound like a challenge but it is not beyond control in that most of the best performers in KCPE were underage learners who ended up in secondary schools,” he said.
He said 30 per cent of students who posted the highest marks in 2021 KCPE were underage and still cope in secondary schools.
He was speaking when he commissioned Competency Based Curriculum (CBC) classes in Rungiri, Uthiru and Mary Leakey Secondary Schools in Kiambu.
The CS said the situation will not be widespread given that 75 per cent of secondary schools are day and the number will soon rise to 80 per cent. He further reiterated that boarding schools will be scrapped off in the future, saying it will encourage learners to get admissions within their home areas. The CS made the remarks as parents separately expressed their reservations over the age their children are set to join JSS.
Majority of parents opined that the learners are underage, requiring direct parental attention.
Kiambu National Parents Association Secretary General Bishop Maina Gaithiru said the government should set aside separate social amenities such as ablutions and dormitories for the juniors.
Social ammenities
He said admission into secondary schools where learners are past puberty stage will disorient them and create room for bullying and subsequently drop out.
“In as far as we support CBC, it would be prudent for the Junior learners to be isolated from the others in dormitories and lavatories. Grown up boys in secondary schools have mostly passed the puberty stage hence they will not be free to interact with juniors,” he said.
Lamu Kenya Primary School Heads Association Chairman Joseph Agutu said they are yet to be inducted with the interface to enable them guide learners on how to help in the selection process.
