Africa-Press – Kenya. The Kenya National Union of Teachers is now calling for the retention of Grade 7 learners in primary schools.
Knut while making their presentation in Nairobi said the learners need to maintain their initial primary schools.
Union’s executive secretary in the Nairobi Chapter Macharia Mugwe said primary schools have better space compared to secondary schools.
Mugwe was speaking when the Presidential Working Party on Education Reform visited the University of Nairobi to collect views from the public.
“The learners transiting to junior secondary are still young and requiring guidance from their teachers and parents,” Mugwe said.
The teachers also argued that many primary school teachers are graduates with different qualifications.
The unionist suggested that those qualifications will be useful in junior secondary that is Grades 7,8 and 9.
“There is better space and better infrastructure in primary schools to accommodate grades 7, 8, and 9 effectively,” he said.
On the age barrier, Mugwe said the learners range between 11-13 years and should be protected from older secondary learners.
The teacher also argued that they are likely to skip or reschedule some cultural practices if they are taken to secondary school.
“It is at this age that some communities circumcise and initiate the young learners to the next level of growth. This has been done comfortably at the primary level,” he said.
Still, on teachers’ training, Mugwe added that most primary school teachers have been trained to teach subjects taught in JSS.
At this level, learners study 12 core subjects and seven optional subjects.
“All the teachers in primary have been trained to teach everything in primary for instance art and craft, music, home science among other areas,” he said.
From the seven subjects, they have to pick a minimum of one and a maximum of two.
The optional subjects are visual arts, performing arts, home science, computer science, foreign languages, Kenyan sign language, and indigenous languages.
The core subjects are English, Kiswahili, mathematics, integrated science, health education, pre-technical and career education, and social studies.
Others are religious education, business studies, agriculture, life skills and sports, and physical education.
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