Education Cabinet Secretary (CS) Prof. George Magoha has assured parents with pupils transitioning to junior secondary school that they are free to enroll their children in private secondary schools of their choice provided the schools have been approved and inspected by the Ministry of Education.
Prof. Magoha, said the government has already added more time to parents to have their children select the junior secondary schools they want their grade 6 children to be admitted to stressing that they still have another one week for them to complete selection and make them available on the Ministry’s portal.
“For parents who want their children to go to private schools, if the school is not in the portal, and the school has been approved for junior secondary school, nothing stops you as a parent from walking into that school with your child and getting the child admitted in the school,” CS Magoha reiterated.
Speaking today in Kericho County, Magoha said that the private primary schools which were to convert to junior high schools must have a functional laboratory and must be inspected and approved by the Ministry of Education.
He further observed that a large number of private schools across the country have complied with the Ministry of Education directive with a few schools still in the process.
Prof. Magoha, who was addressing the press outside the Kericho County Commissioner’s office ahead of a tour of schools in the county, revealed that his Ministry was moving towards 9,500 Competency Based Curriculum (CBC) classrooms which are to be completed across the country adding that the CBC classrooms construction countrywide is now at 90 percent complete.
The CS who held a consultative meeting with all education officers in Kericho including the County Director of Education Ms. Rose Sagara and National Government Administration Officers (NGAO), said that about 50 percent of the counties have attained 100 percent in the construction of the CBC classrooms adding Central and North Eastern regions have already reached 100 percent.
“Kericho County is at about 75 percent and we have agreed that since most of the constructions are at the roofing level, they will be complete in good time by Sunday so that no part of the country is left behind,” Prof Magoha remarked.
The CS appealed to the political class not to interfere with the academic activities of the children in schools urging parents and guardians to allow their children to study and prepare for examinations in a conducive environment despite the political goings-on in the country.
“Our responsibility as officers from the Ministry of Education is to ensure that students are not interfered with that’s the reason why we are rushing to complete the construction of the CBC classrooms,” added Prof. Magoha.