The introduction of new competence Based Curriculum CBC has indeed caused confusion among Many parents and stakeholders and more especially on how the new secondary education structure under the competency-based curriculum will look like.
The new system is 2-6-6-3.under this new curriculum, the students will attend pre-school for two years,then primary school for six years followed by secondary school for six years and finally university for three years (tertiary).
It is clear that with the new CBC modifications , the structure of education is going to be altered as well as the content to which students will be exposed to .
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Below are part of key issues you should be aware of concerning the junior secondary
The term junior secondary school.
This is a new structure in education which will be used to implement the the new 2-6-6-3 CBC curriculum.
Secondary school level is divided into two levels:
✓junior secondary
✓senior secondary
Junior secondary will include Grades 7, 8, and 9.
The senior secondary will consist of Grades 10, 11, and 12.
Hosting of junior secondary school
It will be hosted in secondary schools as the government has already constructed classroom across the country for the same.
The learners in Grade 5 will begin secondary school in January 2023 after finishing primary school in December of this year 2022.
The private school owners are also encouraged to set up junior secondary classrooms.
Why junior secondary?
The reasoning is that by the end of primary school, students will have gained enough knowledge to prepare them for secondary school in which they will devote more time to mastering their preferred areas of study.
As per to the Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development’s (KICD) benchmarking,with primary education in most countries ends at Grade 6 or 7.
It is only in Kenya where students complete eight years of primary school in the East African Community (EAC).
Where Is this type of structure used
Counties such as Canada, South Korea, Ghana, South Africa, Singapore, England, Malaysia, China, Finland, Rwanda, and Zanzibar were used as benchmarking countries where primary education ends at Grade six.
Will the junior secondary students be too young to transfer to secondary school
The learners here range between the ages of 12 and 14. This is the ripe age for learners to join junior secondary
It is only in Kenya where students attend primary school for a longer period of time than students in the majority of other countries around the world.
Are the students to attend day or boarding schools under junior secondary
Most of Junior secondary students will be enrolled in both day and boarding schools.
However,quite a number ma of them will attend day schools as per to the government preference.
Also, many people consider consider day schools to be affordable.
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The number of subjects that the students will study in junior secondary school.
Under the junior secondary , the learners will be exposed to a curriculumthat will enable them to explore their abilities, personalities, interests, and potentials.
This is according to the Basic Education Curriculum Framework (BECF).
The curriculum will concentrate on identification of career paths, talents, and interests in preparation for the transition to senior secondary school.”
Placement of learners in junior secondary schools.
There is the formative and summative assessments will be used to determine placement.
Immediately at the end of Grades 4,5, and 6, three formative assessments are done with each of which will be weighted at 20%.
Then to make up the remaining 40%, a final (summative) assessment will be administered at the end of Grade 6.
It should be noted that the Ministry of Education has not yet stated how the placement will be carried out or how it will address the fierce competition for places in top-performing schools.
