Yesterday, Kenya Secondary School Principals Association (KESSHA) chairman Indimuli Kahi called on the Ministry of Education to stop the transfer of form six students to boarding schools on October 6.
Kahi is of the opinion that students cannot move to a boarding school, because most of them are familiar with private schools.
In a speech at a Kenyan government school to mark World Teachers’ Day, the head of a secondary school rejected the boarding school’s claim to higher education.
“We need to rethink the issue of transition. I know the fear of parents is the age of students entering school. As Kenyans, we believe that good education can only be found in boarding schools, but that is not the case,” he said.
“Boarding schools cannot be a center of autonomy,” he said.
He believes that young students should stay in school during the day and go home like their counterparts in East African countries.
‘It is time as a nation to rethink residential schools. Our children have to stay at school during the day so they can go home,” he said.
The transition to Junior High School (JSS) has faced many challenges and many questions about the steps taken by the government.
The Secretary of the Ministry of Education, Professor George Magoha, has ordered the abolition of boarding schools as early as 2022.
‘Imagine why we want to demolish the boarding school, it doesn’t make sense. Mine is to see that we have to stand firm and deal with confused students,” said Professor Magoha.
The Competency-Based Curriculum (KBK) created by the former Education CS has proposed to abolish public secondary schools in the new curriculum in 2021.
“Boarding schools should be reduced to several institutions that accommodate students from different paths through high school,” said the task force.
The winning 6th grade students from CBC candidates will take the national exam in December before transferring to secondary school in January 2023.
President William Ruto has set up a task force to review the curriculum, which has faced opposition from stakeholders, including parents.