Parental fear, tension about JSS must be overcome — Mombasa stakeholders

The Elimu Yetu Coalition has urged the national government to relentlessly commit to implementing Junior Secondary School transition and educate parents who resist.

Infrastructure, capitation and materials needed 

Speaking in Mombasa on Wednesday, coalition national coordinator Joseph Wasikhongo said Junior Secondary School is generally a hitched computer-based curriculum on education reform. That means it is a system that is here with us and will be here for quite some time.

He said  JSS presents an opportunity for people to look at the issues comprehensively and address challenges as "we see how to proceed."

Wasikhongo said, however, JSS generates emotions, confusion, anxiety and parents' fear of the parents about the future of their children.

About 1.5 children are affected in terms of JSS implementation, he said.

During the coalition's meeting with the Mombasa County Education Network and other stakeholders, they looked at the concerns of the Coast and the rest of the country.

It was clear there is a shortage of JSS teachers.

In Mombasa, Wasikongo said, there are 248 JSS teachers against the population of 15,348 enrolled JSS learners.

“We do not have an adequate JSS infrastructure, and this has affected the teacher-pupil ratio. Thus, rather than being the standard of between 35 and 40 learners to teachers, in some cases you find even 100 children and this means congestion,” he said. Especially in public schools.

The coalition coordinator said running the JSS system will also be difficult due to lack of learning materials

During the engagement, parental engagement was a concern because it is so minimal and it was agreed it is essential for them to participate in their children's education. Attendees called for more sensitisation about JSS.

“Despite all the challenges, we are optimistic about the opportunities presented in JSS because they relate to the general curriculum of CBC," Wasikongo said.

"In CBC, we actually see possibilities of nurturing learners to have adequate skills to compete in the 21st century."

“That is a huge opportunity and especially as there are various tracks or options for the learners and when you talk about the tracks and options, you realise there was also the fear of what happens after JSS,” he said.

It is necessary to create awareness over the whole process of JSS to deal with "the feelings of fear and tension with regards to JSS system implementation and how do we deal with these sustained emotions of parents against the system," the national coordinator said.

He said despite the negative emotions towards the system, there is appreciation this particular system can actually provide more avenues for the learners to prosper.

“We call upon the government to boost its communication and communicate more so that it can provide that assurance to the population that actually the future of children is safe,” he said.

Despite the efforts that the government is generally making towards the implementation of the CBC and JSS, stakeholders called for provision of capitation, which should also be done in good time.

Mombasa county TSC representative Philip Tunje said that shortage of JSS teachers is a concern because out of the 1,547 teachers in the region, a good number are retiring and 68 teachers are supposed to retire by the end of this year.

Out of the 248 JSS teachers, Tunje said most of them were not trained on the CBC system in college.

“We have shortage of teachers both in primary and secondary schools, however, as a commission, we have been getting replacements and additional teachers to replace retirees.

"But the numbers have not been adequate," Tunje said.

He said that they have been doing retooling where teachers have been going through training if the new system but they don't have enough time to become familiar with the system.

“We are supposed to employ 22 more teachers this month but we want to request the government to increase the numbers so this shortage of teachers can be reduced to enable students to learn,” he said.

Tunje said that the JSS system is also facing challenges because there is no goodwill from parents and students. Some of them wish that it never existed.

“It has not sunk into people's minds that the JSS system is here to stay. Therefore, we need to help people understand and accept it," he said.

He called upon the government to work onJSS infrastructure in order to create a conducive learning environment. Some schools do not have JSS classes, he said.

Tunje said Mombasa has recorded only 50 per cent transition. There are learners who were supposed to move to either secondary school or JSS but they did not do it.

The 100 primary schools in Mombasa have 79,510 children but only 35,290 are currently in secondary schools.

“If you look at the figures in primary, JSS and secondary schools, there is a big gap and the question is, where are these students?” Tunje asked. 

"This is a conversation we as stakeholders and the government need to have and decide on the way forward because some parents will tell you that students are not willing to go to school,” he said.

Mombasa county Education department director Mwangi Gichugi said that generally the region has not been performing well in education results and performances but they are working towards improvement.

He said that the county has rolled out a mentorship programme headed by Governor Abdulswamad Nassir. Students are being engaged on different topics.

“Currently we are piloting the programme that started two weeks ago and so far we have been able to reach out to 8,754 students in 15 schools,” he said.

Some areas covered are careers, drug abuse and countering violence and extremism... everything that makes a person a better person,” he said.

Gichugi said the programme has impacted the lives of children in a big way because students' perception of whatever is out there is now different after they had candid discussions about possibilities and a positive future. 

He said Mombasa has been labelled an area with with extremism, violence, gangs who are young people. That is why they are engaging  the children to try and engage in activities that are productive  and interesting, rather than just staying home and hanging out,he said.

On the transition process, Gichugi said the department has teams on the ground. They also have intergovernmental meetings to ensure chiefs and county administrators are helping us to go into the households where learners are not in school. i

“Whenever we find any case, we open our offices for them and ensure that we take them to school,” he said.

(Edited by V. Graham)