Government to use UPI to weed out learners outside school
Government to use UPI to weed out learners outside school. Over 200,000 learners expected to join Grade 7 in Junior Secondary School are yet to report. This arised after research was done on the transition to junior secondary school which gave the report.
Junior Secondary School is expected to accommodate learners from Grade 6 who sat for Kenya Primary School Education Assessment (KPSEA) 2022.
The Teachers Service Commission early this year employed 30,000 teachers to teach in Junior Secondary School. The teachers holding diploma and degrees for education qualified for the positions.
Amidst the crisis of shortage of teachers to teach in Junior Secondary School, reports also indicate the expected number of students in junior secondary schools doesn’t tally with the number that sat for KPSEA.
Therefore the Government of Kenya led by Cabinet Secretary for Education Ezekiel Machogu has planned to weed out learners missing in schools using Unique Personal Information (UPI).
“The government to use UPI to weed out learners outside school and ensure that they are all enrolled in junior secondary schools,” CS Machogu stated.
This move comes after realization that some are missing joining the Grade Seven after collusion between parents and headteachers to skip the learners to class eight.
It had come to light that some parents are bribing head teachers to let their kids enroll in Standard Eight and eventually take this year’s KCPE exam in order to keep them out of junior secondary school (JSS) under the Competence Based Curriculum (CBC).
The issue involving the falsification of student records, including a special personal identifier to erase the trail of academic progress and a birth certificate required for enrollment, has been investigated by the Ministry of Education.
Some missing due to lack of financial support. Therefore the government is to allocate a capitation of 15,000 for every learner in junior secondary schools.