Primary schools that will host junior secondary will benefit from a Sh9.6 billion cash injection when the pioneer competency-based curriculum (CBC) class transitions to Grade 7 at the end of this month.
Education Cabinet Secretary Ezekiel Machogu yesterday outlined the roadmap for the transition, which will see the 1,253,577 learners who sat the inaugural Kenya Primary School Education Assessment (KPSEA) proceed to junior secondary.
Mr Machogu announced that learners in public junior secondary schools (JSS) will each receive a capitation of Sh15,000 as he warned head teachers against charging fees unless in cases where the schools have boarding facilities. The new capitation is a huge gain for primary schools, many of which lack infrastructure to effectively offer JSS.
“We’ve worked on a figure almost equal to what’s given to secondary schools (Sh22,240) because junior secondary is secondary school,” Mr Machogu said when he released Form One placement results at the Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development in Nairobi.
The CS revealed that schools will be expected to use Sh4,000 on infrastructure development while guidelines for other vote heads will be released next week.
“It will make it possible for schools to put up laboratories and we’re also working with members of Parliament to help us through the Constituency Development Fund,” Mr Machogu told Nation.
Given that the capitation is a huge leap from the current capitation of Sh1,420, the CS said primary schools will be required to hire finance clerks to help them manage the finances. There are over 23,000 public primary schools, translating to as many new job openings.
“We’ll make sure there’s close monitoring on the usage of money through the sub-county directors of education and the curriculum support officers. We’ll also build the capacity of school heads through workshops and seminars facilitated by the Kenya Education Management Institute and Kenya Primary School Heads Association,” said Mr Machogu.
The guidelines to be released next week are also expected to guide schools on qualifications for members of the boards of management . Currently, the minimum qualification for membership is secondary education.
The CS also asked public secondary school head teachers to comply with fees guidelines that cap fees for national schools at Sh53,554 and Sh40,555 for county and extra-county schools.
“The government will maintain its capitation per student in all public secondary schools at Sh22,244. Parents whose children are enrolled in public day secondary schools should not be charged any fees because the government is catering for all the tuition costs,” said Mr Machogu.
The CS announced that the marking of KPSEA is complete and schools will access reports from today through the Kenya National Examinations Council (Knec) portal.
“Given that this is the first time such reports will be available for schools, I direct Knec to collaborate with KICD and Teachers Service Commission to assist the schools to properly interpret the reports for learners and parents,” he said.
The CS confirmed that the learners will wear different uniforms to distinguish them from those in lower grades but parents will bear the responsibility of buying them.
“As a result, a decision has been made that parents and boards of management agree on the new uniforms for JSS learners,” he said.
Mr Machogu directed that the National Educational Information Management System be used to admit the learners, since it is through the system that the ministry will send capitation funds to schools. BY DAILY NATION