- Other than inadequate resources, the teachers also decried being forced to teach learners on subjects they have not been trained on.
- Lack of representation in Board of Management meetings was also a major issue.
Image: LINDWE DANFLOW
Nairobi intern teachers have come out to demand the removal of Junior Secondary from primary schools.
The teachers want the Ministry to domicile junior secondary within the existing day secondary schools to ensure the Kenyan child is accorded not just access to education but access to quality education.
The teachers spoke on Friday at KUPPET offices along Mombasa Road where they held peaceful protests over the terms of the contract.
"As teachers of this great republic, we will not accept to preside over the current mediocrity going on in public primary school in the name of Junior secondary," the teachers said.
According to them, Junior secondary should be domiciled in day secondary schools or be independent to ensure that every Kenyan child has access to quality education.
The teachers appealed to parents to join them in supporting Junior secondary to be domiciled in day secondary schools.
The teachers said domiciling JSS in primary schools compromises the quality of education the entire generation of pioneer junior secondary students are receiving saying primary schools cannot offer a junior secondary level of education.
The teachers decried inadequate resources for the implementation of proper learning of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM), sports and Arts, and Social Sciences Pathways.
"This infrastructure already exists in our current secondary schools as opposed to the poorly equipped primary schools which cannot handle and implement CBC at Junior secondary school level," they said.
They said the critical infrastructure lacking in all public primary school across the country include Science laboratories, sporting facilities and sports equipment for sports and physical education lessons.
There is also a lack of workshops for technical and creative subjects like Visual/Performing Arts, home science and pre-technical studies.
"There is also a lack of human resources to handle Technical and creative arts subjects. These learning areas currently are not being attended to due to lack of trained teachers to handle them," the teachers said.
"This can only be addressed if Junior secondary school is domiciled in senior secondary school."
Other than inadequate resources, the teachers also decried being forced to teach learners on subjects they have not been trained on.
"How does a history and government teacher, teach computer science, home science, mandarin, French, German, sports and physical education?" they posed.
Junior secondary is understaffed forcing teachers to handle learning areas they are not trained to handle but also overburdened.
"This mismatch has compromised the quality of education in Junior secondary schools and has caused distress among teachers being compelled to handle learning areas they are not trained for," they said.
The teachers also feel their opinions are not put into consideration due to what they termed as an inferiority complex syndrome suffered by the primary school teachers and head teachers.
"To ensure competent management and leadership of Junior secondary school students, teachers and resources junior secondary has to be domiciled in secondary schools or be independent this is because the current primary school head teachers lack the skills and experience to run and manage a secondary school," they said.
Lack of representation in Board of Management meetings was also a major issue.
They said if the Ministry cannot domicile junior secondary schools in day secondary schools, it should have junior schools as independent schools with independent administration personnel with a minimum of 5 years working with TSC as a teacher in senior secondary school.