According to the Ministry of Education’s official school calendar, learning for Junior Secondary Schools (JSS) was to start on Monday, January 30.
The first cohort of Grade 7 students under the Competence-Based Curriculum (CBC) reported to school on the same day, after months of the curriculum being subjected to review.
While learning in private schools kicked off in time, most public primary schools were yet to start teaching JSS students.
The delay in learning was attributed to the failure of the government to deploy teachers to public schools.
Through the Teachers Service Commission (TSC), the Kenyan government recruited 30,000 teachers for JSS.
While speaking to Citizen Digital, Paul Eseme - deputy head teacher at Kitale School - stated that was no cause for alarm as learning would commence on Monday, February 6.
“We have been told that the teachers have already deployed, and they will start reporting to their various stations.
“If they report to workstations on February 1, we will be able to kick off the learning process albeit a week late,” he remarked.
TSC was expected to deploy at least one teacher in every public primary school in the country to handle JSS.
However, headteachers across the country urged TSC to increase the number, citing the high public-school teacher-student ratio.
“Public school mode of teaching requires more teachers for them to handle individual needs of each learner,” Lee Salano of Tender Care School added.
His sentiments were backed by Eseme, who remarked that increasing teachers would enhance service delivery.
“We require at least 10 teachers from the government so that we can be able to handle the high school population,” he remarked.
The government assured teachers that the issue of employing more teachers was being handled as a matter of urgency.
Professor Charles Ong’ondo, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of The Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development (KICD), revealed that the process had already been initiated.
“By the end of February 2023, the government will be posting more teachers and we are taking stock of schools that have a teacher shortage,” he assured public schools.
