deal with middle school anxiety

Children play at the Star of Hope Primary in Lunga Lunga Village in the Nairobi Industrial Zone. File Photo | Denise Onsongo | NMG

With just over a week to go until the January 30 school opening date set by the Ministry of Education, confusion continues over the transition to secondary school (JSS).

Many students and their parents are worried about whether schools are ready for their first JSS classes under the new Competency-Based Curriculum (CBC).

Much of the confusion stems from the fact that the new administration has made drastic policy changes to CBC implementation, placing JSS classes (7th and 8th grades) in primary schools instead of secondary schools.

A decision announced by President William Ruto at the beginning of December last year has put intense pressure on education authorities to proceed with the transition within a very tight deadline.

For example, over the past two months, the Ministry of Education has had the daunting task of ensuring that elementary schools have the proper infrastructure to accommodate the first class of JSS.

Meanwhile, the Teacher Services Commission plans to recruit, train and place 30,000 teachers in primary schools to handle JSS learners.

However, how well teachers are being recruited, trained and assigned, and whether the primary schools will have adequate facilities such as laboratories in time, remains an open question.

To make matters worse, the Department of Education has yet to widely publicize its recent findings, so it’s not clear which elementary schools are ready to accept students.

The government should clarify these issues before students report to school within 7 days.