The Ministry of Education has listed placement methods for Grade 6 learners who will join junior secondary schools in January next year.
The Grade 6 learners will sit for their final exams in primary school in November this year before transitioning to junior secondary at Grade 7.
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The test known as Kenya Primary School Education Assessment (KPSEA) will start from 28th to 30th November 2022.
The exams which will be in multiple choice questions will start and end same day as KCPE exams.Knec has already released a timetable for the exams which shows the exams will take three days.
The Grade 6 learners will also have a day for rehearsal which will be on 25th November 2022.
However as KCPE candidates will be joining Form 1 the Grade 6 will be joining junior secondary at Grade 7.
Below are factors that will be used to determine placement of Grade 6 learners into junior secondary.
1. Distance from their homes
According to the education officials placement of Grade 6 learners into junior secondary will be informed by the distance from their homes.
The State department overseeing the implementation of CBC said that the learners will be posted to junior high schools based on proximity to their former primary school.
“Posting of learners to junior high will be informed by the capability of parents to transport a child to the school they have chosen,” Ruth Mugambi, the technical adviser to the Principal Secretary on CBC matters said.
Education CS Prof. George Magoha clarified that junior Secondary School will be offered in both boarding and day secondary schools across the country.
Magoha however said all Grade 6 learners joining junior secondary will be day scholars.
Magoha said the Government is constructing 10,000 classrooms in schools across the country at a cost sh 8 billion to facilitate effective and smooth transition next year.
2. Learner performance in KPSEA and SBA
The performance of learners in the KPSEA national tests as well as the School Based Assessments (SBA) will determine placement of learners into Grade 7.
The SBA will contribute 60% while KPSEA will contribute 40% in the learners final report.
The KPSEA national test will replace the outdated KCPE which has been in place for decades.
The Grade 6 regular learners will sit for five subjects in their final assessment in primary school.
These are; Mathematics, English, Kiswahili, Integrated Science and Creative Art and Social Studies.
Knec Competency Based Assessment (CBA) Coordinator Ann Ngatia explained that Integrated and Creative Sciences will be an integration of various subjects and that the five will be part of the KPSEA at the end of primary school.
“The exam will be a multiple-choice test covering the five papers. IS will see us combine science and technology and will cover Home Science, Agriculture, and Physical Health while CASS will combine Art and Craft, Music, Social Studies and religious education (CRE, IRE and HRE),” she noted.
The coordinator added that the primary school results will be determined by the SBA, which is done every year in the upper primary classes and the five-subject summative national examination.
“We will have a 60 per cent of the score coming from SBA spread over Grade Four, Five and Six and 40 per cent from the summative report so that we do not rely on a one-time assessment to determine the potential of the learner,” Ngatia added.
Ngatia expounded that the school-based evaluation will be done in form of projects, practicals, portfolios and oral assessments to allow learners to demonstrate what they have learnt, this will be executed by the classroom teachers guided by Knec.
3. Optional subjects learner selected
The Ministry will place Grade 6 learners into Grade 7 depending on day schools offering the optional subjects the learners selected.The government requires that secondary schools offer at least three of the optional subjects.
It is this selection of optional subjects that will be used to determine which secondary school a child will be posted to.
Grade 6 learners are supposed to chose at least one or a maximum of two optional subjects which will be offered in Grade 7.
Below are the compulsory and optional subjects offered in Grade 7. The Grade 6 learners will choose maximum of two optional subjects which will determine their placement.
SUBJECTS OFFERED IN GRADE 7
Core Subjects
English
Kiswahili or Kenyan Sign Language for learners who are deaf
Mathematics
Integrated Science
Health Education
Pre-Technical and Pre-Career Education
Social Studies
Religious Education – learners choose one of the following:
Christian Religious Education
Islamic Religious Education
Hindu Religious Education
Business Studies 1
Agriculture
Life Skills Education
Sports and Physical Education
Optional Subjects (Minimum 1, Maximum 2)
Visual Arts
Performing Arts
Home Science
Computer Science
Foreign Languages:
German
French
Mandarin
Arabic
Indigenous Languages
Kenyan Sign Language
