Correct poor start to school academic year
What you need to know:
- The new school academic year has been met with a lot of confusion, especially around junior secondary school (JSS). Most schools have been without textbooks.
- But worse is having in JSS newly promoted teachers from the primary section and recruits who are not quite sure of what they are supposed to be doing.
- This is a crisis that was not entirely unexpected as the transition to the new Competency-Based Curriculum (CBC) requires that teachers be trained in it to effectively handle the learners.
The new school academic year has been met with a lot of confusion, especially around junior secondary school (JSS). Most schools have been without textbooks.
But worse is having in JSS newly promoted teachers from the primary section and recruits who are not quite sure of what they are supposed to be doing.
This is a crisis that was not entirely unexpected as the transition to the new Competency-Based Curriculum (CBC) requires that teachers be trained in it to effectively handle the learners. The apparent disorganisation speaks volumes about the lack of preparedness by all stakeholders, not just teachers.
The Education authorities have found themselves racing against time to deliver JSS learning materials within the month. Schools in only 20 of the 47 counties have received the books approved by the Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development (KICD). The delay has been blamed on slow printing. It means the students have been idle since schools reopened.
The Grade Seven learners in JSS are taking 12 core subjects and two optional ones. But most teachers, especially those trained to teach the 8-4-4 syllabus in secondary school, have specialised in two subjects. So how will the rest be handled?
Besides textbooks, the JSS learners, who have been in their new schools for the past two weeks, are confronted by a lack of infrastructure, such as laboratories and classrooms. Congestion has been reported in most public schools. Some learners are forced to sit on the floor or under trees due to lack of classrooms and desks.
Teachers’ unions have always criticised the rush to implement the new education system. They argue that it is not a matter of life and death and could have been delayed a little to enable capacity building so as to meet the demands of the CBC for quality learning. Instead of hurrying and ending up wasting the learners’ and their teachers’ time, as well as their parents’ money, giving it some time would put things right.
All stakeholders, especially the Education authorities, head teachers and parents, must put their heads together to come up with a solution to the haphazard start to this stage of CBC.
