Eight key guidelines on Junior Secondary as schools reopen

The government has released a raft of guidelines to ready Junior Secondary Schools ahead of Grade Seven admissions next week.

Education Cabinet Secretary Dr Ezekiel Mochogu on Friday released the guidelines during the release of the 2022 KCSE examinations.

“The guidelines are interim while awaiting the full report of the Presidential Working party, which is expected in March 2023,” said Mochogu.

The list of the guidelines include;

1. The Board of Management (BoM) of a primary school that domiciles the Junior Secondary School will constitute a special Sub-Committee to spearhead the management of education and resources of the school. The Head of the primary school that domiciles the Junior Secondary School will serve as Secretary while the Chairperson will be a member of the Committee.
2. All private Junior Secondary Schools will establish and operationalise BoMs, Boards of Directors or Boards of Trustees, in accordance with Section 52 (a) of the Basic Education Act (2013).
3. A public Junior Secondary School will be headed by the head teachers of the public primary school that domiciles it during the interim period of the transition ending December 30, 2023
4. The Ministry of Education has re-engineered the National Education Management Information System (NEMIS) in readiness for enhancement management of education data. Registration of learners in NEMIS will form the basis for disbursement of funds to public Junior Secondary School.
5. Text books and hard copies of the Grade 7 Curriculum Designs will be made available for all schools.
6. KNEC will provide guidelines on the conduct of assessments at the Junior Secondary Schools.
7. The infrastructure and resources of existing primary schools will be utilised by the respective domiciled Junior Secondary School in the interim one year of transition. This applies to Special Needs Junior Secondary School as well.
8. The Ministry of Education, through the Kenya Education Management Institute (KEMI), has developed a curriculum and training materials to build the capacity of education managers, (including Junior Secondary School Management Boards and school heads on governance and accountability in the leadership of JSS. The curriculum will also apply during the induction of the school heads on institutional and instructional leadership.

Dr Mochogu said comprehensive guidelines will be issued to schools in a circular to be released by the Education Ministry next week.

“These guidelines have been validated by stakeholders to spell out the general provisions to be adopted by institutions, organisations and stakeholders, in order to fast track operationalisation of Junior Secondary School across the one- year transitional period,” he said.