Written By Monica Makali
As the clock ticks towards the transition to Junior Secondary School for learners under the CBC program, private schools are in a hurry to beat the timeline in the construction of JSS classes.
The Kenya Association of Private Schools (KEPSA), has assured the government that they’ll put more effort into the construction of the 5000 classrooms by January next year to ensure the transition to JSS is fully effected.
In Machakos County, it is a hive of activity in most private schools as construction works continue with institution heads targeting the completion of more than 20 fully equipped CBC classrooms by the end of this year.
David Muchina, Director at Early Bird Schools says it’s a shot in the arm after the government gave them a nod to construct stand-alone JSS classrooms which will be under different management as directed by the government.
“Our classrooms will be fully equipped by January, including the laboratories. This is because the construction is already complete and at the moment we’re equipping the classrooms with furniture. It’ll just be a simple exercise and we already have the designs.”He said
According to David, their effort is to aid in a smooth and seamless transition next year as there will be double intake for students joining form one and those transitioning to JSS when the normal academic calendar resumes in January 2023.
“I think the government is doing the best it can to accommodate the learners that will be graduating and in some schools, the classrooms are already complete that we are aware of.”He added
In the neighbouring School Machakos Academy, one block of classrooms is already set for CBC, the senior teacher Frank Wambua said their school was used as a pilot school for CBC therefore the early exposure gave them an advantage.
“The learners that are in grade seven now were the pioneers of CBC, we got exposed to CBC and got an advantage a year before many other schools experienced this.”He said
Earlier this month, after a meeting with Kenya Private Schools Association KEPSA in Mombasa County, CS Education prof George Magoha noted that a total of 6500 units have been constructed in public schools across the country as the government fast-track the remaining 14,500 units out of the intended 20,000 classrooms.
Another learning resource centre in the rural area of Wamunyu is also offering digital learning devices for all public schools in the area so, the learners in the area are not left behind. This is according to the director of Kenya Connect James Musyoka.
” The public schools we work with are highly under-resourced. The CBC is supposed to be teaching digital technology, especially coding, the teachers do not have the know-how on how to teach this chapter and so they keep calling us for assistance.” He revealed
In as much as most public and private schools have shown their commitment towards the JSS rollout come next year, the main challenge is in the production of materials which they say could pose a challenge during the assessment.
They are also worried about the current assessment system after the government introduced the multiple choice assessment as compared to the earlier system where learners were given blank spaces to fill when CBC was introduced.
“The ministry has said that the end-year assessment for them to transit to Junior high school will be a multiple choice assessment. That has posed a challenge since these learners fr from grade one are not used to multiple-choice questions. As a school, we have chosen to subject them to multiple choice questions.”Wambua added
All in all the sector has applauded the efforts put by the government in the implementation of CBC as the curriculum which is a learner-focused and collaborative model equips pupils with better decision-making skills thus giving them the best chance in the dynamic competitive job market.
