Some 570 out 647 primary schools in Murang’a County have been approved to host Junior Secondary Schools (JSS).

The approved learning institutions which are both public and private primary schools translate to 88.1 per cent.

The County Director of Education Ms. Anne Kiilu speaking to KNA observed that out of the total approved schools, 21 of them will be feeder schools, meaning they will host learners from some of the institutions which did not meet the set requirements.

Members of the multiagency committee which was entrusted to do assessment of the institutions, Kiilu confirmed, visited all primary schools in the county.

“From the assessment, the schools which qualified have all the requirements to host junior secondary schools. They have enough classroom space and an extra classroom for special subjects,” she stated.

Grade six learners from schools which did not meet the requirements, the Director explained, will enroll in nearby schools which have already been approved.

“Each of the approved schools will also have a classroom which will be converted to a laboratory. The laboratories for JSS will be simple as compared to those currently in secondary schools,” she added.

Kiilu further said more than 1,900 teachers drawn from local primary schools have concluded training which was factoring some change of design of Competency Based Curriculum (CBC).

The training which was done at zonal level targeted teachers for grade one to three. “Every primary school sent three teachers, one for each grade. The training which was done between January 18 and 19 in our county, was successful,” noted the Director.

Elsewhere the county Teachers Service Commission (TSC) director, Mr. Fredrick Ng’ang’a confirmed the process of recruiting teachers for JSS in the county is almost complete.

He said verification of submitted application documents was scheduled to end on January 20.

“From January 23, we will embark in the process of recruiting the needed number of teachers and the exercise will end by the end of this month. Successful teachers will be informed early February as they are set to undergo some training,” stated Ng’ang’a.

In Murang’a County, the government is recruiting 788 teachers for junior secondary schools whereby, 556 will be employed on a permanent basis and 232 will be on internship.

“In the county, we are also recruiting 21 primary school teachers on a permanent basis and another 85 interns,” added the TSC Director.