There is massive confusion in the accommodation of Junior Secondary School (JSS) in the new Competency-Base Curriculum (CBC). At issue is whether JSS learners should be placed in primary or conventional secondary schools.

Being a new tier in the education hierarchy, JSS is yet to be understood, which is why consumers of education as a service are finding it difficult to come to terms with it.

Not surprisingly, it is being resisted.

The grey areas are more to do with the hurry with which it was conceived and midwifed before its implementation began. Like all political decisions in the past, it had not been internalised even by its conceivers before its hurried implementation began. Missteps were inevitable, but the ministry of education has been slow in picking them out and addressing them. Naturally, there are rough edges and grey areas that urgently need to be smoothed before it is universally accepted.

The ship has already set sail and there is no room for tantrums and foot-dragging. There is no reverse gear too. The task ahead involves clearing the grey areas so that CBC can be appreciated by both the vendor (government), salesman (educationist/teacher) and the consumer (learner). However, time is of essence and there is no room for aficionados in government and education sector to engage in theorising and armchair philosophising.

The prevailing confusion is so much so that even Education Cabinet Secretary, Prof Ezekiel Machogu, does not seem to understand the aims and objectives of the new education curriculum and how it should be midwifed to producing an all-round professionals capable of fitting in any work environment. CBC lays emphasis on versatility. Thus the centrepiece of CBC is multidisciplinarity and crossdisciplinarity in the knowledge market as opposed to the current single-purpose disciplinarity where knowledge is served in silo format, with rigid borders as conventional subjects like geography, history, biology, etc.

Knowledge is interconnected and is multifaceted, which is what and how CBC was conceived and designed to promote connectivity. Knowledge is a continuum of interrelated ideas, not a stand-alone.

Prof Machogu, by dint of his job and scholarship, should be at the forefront explaining to the public the motif behind JSS, but his demeanour always betrays a picture of a professor who is not in consonant with the responsibility of “manufacturing” skilled manpower for the country and lacks the vision and vivacity transform the curriculum into a world class pursuit. The minister comes across as a free-loader.

At most, Kenya’s good professor gives the impression of a fish out of water and lacks the temerity, drive and intellectual content that made his predecessor, Prof George Magoha, a darling of learners, teachers and parents.

At present, JSS is domiciled in primary schools on government recommendation. The reasoning in government was that primary schools had the infrastructure to accommodate this segment of education cycle. The debate has been and still is, whether JSS should be embedded in primary or secondary school.

I have previously argued that this segment of school be retained in primary school, then progressively relocated it to secondary school. That will help tweak the mindsets of both the learners and tutors.

Education psychologists remind us that an environment – such as the colour of school uniform and vegetation – has a direct bearing on educational activities and attainment. A primary school environment has the potential of stymying the mind and intellectual growth: a leaner must be made to notice and feel change of environment for a positive change in the mindset. The current set up in education pursuit implants self-devaluation in learners and tutors. Paradigm shift stalls. Growth is stymied.

Here is a practical situation: The present Grade Seven (G-7) are in the primary school learning in a classroom left by those who moved to Standard Eight (Std 8). In 2024, this cohort will move to Std 8 in a classroom vacated by students who moved to Form One. In 2025, they will move to G-9 in secondary school to occupy classrooms that were previously used by those who moved to Form Two. And so on and so forth for the current G-6 and G-5. Going by this arrangement, the present G-4 should be the first ones to proceed directly to secondary school without further delay.

After being patient for a while, I have come some important conclusions. One, there are many unused classrooms in secondary schools, especially those that were constructed during the era of former hardworking minister, Prof Magoha. Two, the teachers in secondary schools are specifically trained to teach secondary school learners. Three, our secondary schools have laboratories and other facilities that the JSS learners need. JSS should make use of them.

While most of our G-7 classrooms are bursting at the seams, should we be having any unused classrooms elsewhere? Again, why should we have G-7 learners attending school without being taught for of instructors? It may make sense if JSS learners were promoted to senior secondary school where they can be taught by teachers at that level. It does make sense to build laboratories for primary schools when we can just expand and equip those in secondary schools. It is called priority planning, not the haphazard implementation of CBC that CS Machogu is overseeing.

These, among other things, persuade to propose that JSS be co-hosted by both primary and secondary schools based on need and accommodability. Our children should not be huddled and squeezed in limited spaces like sheep, unattended for long spells for lack of manpower.

The cabinet secretary for education should audit both the primary and secondary schools to determine that that have the capacity to host JSS. The exercise is urgent and should be subjected to the bureaucracy common in public service. Grassroots-based education managers are the subcounty and county are best-placed to carry out the audit within limited time and provide feedback that will be critical in shaping education policy besides streamlining CBC. No rocket science is required in this exercise, just ingenuity and integrity.

It is gratifying to note that the inaugural Kenya Primary School Education Assessment (KPSEA) examination Grade Six leaners sat for this year has been marked and the results are out.

Consequently, I propose that these results be used to place the learners in the secondary schools of their choice. Pupils who chose certain secondary schools should be admitted immediately and without a fuss.

• A Tell report / By Enock Shirandula, a retired educationist, a Kabras (Luhyia) dialect orthographer and author of so Different She Was novel