• Under 2-6-6-3 curriculum, secondary school has been expanded to have six classes divided to junior and senior secondary, each to run for three years.
• Pupils currently in Standard Six under the 8-4-4 system will meet in high school with those in Grade 4 under the CBC
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The government will this year carry out an audit to establish capacity and ability of secondary schools to accommodate junior secondary under the new education system.
In a bid to avert any crisis, the government is planning a mapping out of the current situation in schools, information that will guide the infrastructure development for the institutions in preparation for 2022.
It is expected that students currently in Standard Six under the 8-4-4 system will meet in high school with the students who are currently in Grade 4 under the CBC system.
This is expected admissions will further stretch the already overstretched secondary schools.
They survey will be used to determine schools that will specialise in the newly introduced optional learning areas.
President Uhuru Kenyatta in December declared that junior high school will be hosted in the current secondary schools.
This followed recommendation by the Fatuma Chege-led task force formed to iron out transition puzzles under the new curriculum.
The presidential decree ended a heated debate that championed junior secondary to be domiciled in primary schools.
Under the 2-6-6-3 curriculum, secondary school has been expanded to have six classes divided to junior and senior secondary, each to run for three years.
This is different from the 8-4-4 system that had one four-year cycle for secondary schools.
The two extra year’s will mean expansion of the facilities.
There is expansion of learning areas and incorporation of more practical subjects that will need more resources.
The pioneer class of the new curriculum is currently in Grade 4 and will be transiting to secondary school in two years under the 2-6-6-3 education system.
The Fatuma Chege task force is currently piloting the tool that will be used to collect the secondary school data, while the actual rollout is set for mid-February.
The pilot runs for two days and the task force will spend next week strengthening the tool and correcting any loophole they might have observed.
Information to be collected includes school infrastructure, acreage of the institution and staffing.
The information will inform which schools will specialise in the optional learning areas introduced under the new curriculum.
Junior secondary education covers Grades 7, 8 and 9 for pupils aged between 12 and 14 years.
They will take 12 compulsory subjects which include English, Kiswahili or Kenya Sign Language, Mathematics, Integrated Science, Health Education, pre-technical and pre-career education, Social Studies and Religious Education.
They will also take Business Studies, Agriculture, Life Skills, Sports and Physical Education.
The new system allows learners to choose a minimum of one and a maximum of two subjects according to personality, abilities, interests and career choices from the following: Visual Arts, Performing Arts, Home Science, Computer Science and foreign languages such as German, French, Mandarin and Arabic.
They can also choose Kenyan Sign Language and indigenous languages.
Senior secondary education will cover Grades 10-12 for learners aged between 15 and 17 years.
At this level, there are three learning areas: arts and sports science, social sciences and science, technology, engineering and mathematics.
Core subjects in arts will cover legal and ethical issues along with communication skills. Sport science covers human physiology, anatomy and nutrition and sports ethics.
Social science pathway will have subjects in humanities, languages and business.
Science learning areas will includes pure science, applied science, technical and engineering subjects and career technology studies.
The learners will also be allowed to take optional subjects in arts, sports and technical subjects.