Teachers are split on where junior secondary education (JSE) will be taught, raising fresh questions about the implementation of the new curriculum.

The question they are grappling with is whether learners will undertake the proposed three years of study in primary or secondary schools.

It is also unclear whether the JSE will be an entirely independent level of education with new management structures and schools.

The two rival teachers' unions both say their members should be responsible for administering the new education level in the new Competency Based Curriculum (CBC).

It does not help matters that top education officials are non-committal on the matter. Last week, the head of the Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development (KICD), which is at the centre of the national roll-out of the CBC, failed to give head teachers a clear answer during their annual conference.

Under the 2-6-3-3-3 system, learners will spend two years in pre-primary education, six years in primary, three years in junior secondary, and another three years in senior secondary.

With the number of years spent in primary education reduced to six from the current eight, education stakeholders cannot agree whether the next stage of learning – junior secondary – should be an independent institution or embedded in primary and secondary school premises.

It is also not clear whether the Teachers Service Commission will employ a new management team or deploy primary or secondary teaching staff to manage the new education level.

Protect turf

But just days after most stakeholders endorsed the CBC roll-out at the secondary school heads meeting in Mombasa, the Kenya National Union of Teachers (Knut) and Kenya Union of Post-Primary Education Teachers (Kuppet) are already pulling in different directions with each keen to protect its turf.

The giant unions are competing to ring-fence their members from the possibility of a CBC-driven re-organisation, which its is feared will lead to the loss of members.

If the Education ministry places JSE under primary schools, it will mean Kuppet will lose teachers to Knut, while the opposite will be true if JSE is placed under secondary schools.

KICD has already distanced itself from the debate, saying only the Education minister can give direction on the matter.

“I cannot tell you where the junior secondary will be anchored because this is a policy issue in the ministry. The Cabinet Secretary is better placed to explain this,” said KICD Chief Executive Officer Jwan Julius.