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{
    "id": 1498491,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1498491/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 85,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Mr. Julius Migos Ogamba",
    "speaker_title": "The Cabinet Secretary for Education",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": " Thank you, Hon. Speaker. The answer to question one is that the Government has not issued or made any policy directive to transfer secondary school teachers who are teaching physics, chemistry, biology or history to junior secondary schools. There is currently no such policy in place from the Government. Regarding question two, junior secondary schools are domiciled in existing primary schools. The Ministry issued the guidelines for the implementation of junior school education in January 2023. The guidelines stipulate that junior school leadership shall determine the uniform for their schools in consultation with the respective stakeholders and the sub-county directors of education. This includes additional unique features for the identification and branding of the institutions. The guidelines also make clear that no learner shall be excluded from school for failure to afford a school uniform. The determination of school uniforms through stakeholder involvement is meant to ensure that the specific school community decides on the uniform that is sensitive to the school's needs, thereby ensuring that there is harmony. In any event, junior schools and primary schools are under the same boards of management and the same heads of institutions, thereby creating a basis for harmonious functioning in the same institutions. Hon. Speaker, we also wish to inform the House that the last Class VIII cohort sat their examinations in December 2023. Currently, all learners in grade seven onwards are in junior school under the competency-based education (CBC). Question three is on schools lacking functional laboratories. A list of those schools is provided in Annex 1 of our written response. Currently, there are a total of 1,366 secondary schools countrywide that do not have functioning laboratories. In the next financial year, we plan to construct approximately 2,000 laboratories in secondary schools, specifically targeting those that currently lack such facilities. We will also be seeking the support of the House to provide further resources for the construction of those particular laboratories, especially as we approach the 100 per cent transition to senior school next year. Once again, I would like to thank the Members of Parliament for their support in funding infrastructure development in schools through the National Government Constituency Development Fund (NG-CDF). We look forward to further support in equipping those secondary schools and those laboratories. I also request additional time to provide information on how many times candidates in each of those specific schools have taken KCSE practical exams elsewhere due to the absence of laboratories. I was unable to obtain that information and would appreciate more time to gather it for the Members. Regarding the issue of the lessons, the competency-based curriculum is implemented to foster practical skills and holistic learning. Primary school education is structured into two key levels: lower primary, which includes grades one to three, and upper primary, which comprises grades four to six. The implementation of the curriculum is designed in a timetable that changes with the levels as the learners progress. The timetable for the pre-primary level presents five lessons per day, totalling 25 lessons per week, with four breaks, including a daybreak. At the lower primary level (grades one to three), the timetable presents six lessons per day, amounting to 31 lessons per week, with four breaks per day. At the upper primary level (Grade Four to Grade Six), the timetable"
}