Preparations for the first-ever end-of-junior school assessment under the Competency-Based Curriculum (CBC) have started with the registration of learners who will undertake the examination at the end of the year.
The Kenya National Examinations Council (Knec) on Monday announced the registration exercise would close on March 28, 2025, and asked heads of institutions. The registration, which started on Wednesday, is conducted via the Knec portal.
“As per presidential working party, we will use 20 percent of KPSEA (Kenya Primary School Education Assessment), 20 percent of Grade 7 and 8 School-Based Assessment (SBA) and 60 percent summative KJSEA,” Knec Chief Executive David Njengere.
Every school has access to the portal through a username and a password. So, parents can get any information on their children from the school. When a school logs in to the portal, they access learner details in every grade.
The KPSEA performance report is also available in the same portal and obtained from the school.
The SBA scores are keyed into the portal by the schools because they administer the examinations and score the learners.
Everything is available in the portal, which every school has access to.
“Please note that the KJSEA registration portal is only accessible through Knec. All heads of institutions presenting candidates for 2025 KJSEA should log in to the portal and register their learners before the portal is closed on March 28, 2025,” said the examinations body.
However, the council said eligible learners presented for KJSEA must exist in the Grade 9 database, have a KPSEA performance report and have SBA scores for Grades 7 and 8 in all the learning areas.
“Any requests for transfer at Grade 9 must be done online to avoid double registration of candidates. Transfer of candidates will not be allowed after the closure of the registration portal on March 28, 2025,” said Knec.
KPSEA is administered at Grade 6 before they transit to Junior Secondary School. However, the results are not used to place candidates in JS but to monitor their learning progress.
“We did a pilot of the KJSEA summative Assessment last year and uploaded sample papers to help schools prepare candidates on what to expect at the end of the year,” added Dr Njengere.
National Parents Association said it has been calling on the state to support it to train parents on CBC.
“Many parents are not informed what CBC is, however the state has done its part through schools and Knec, to create awareness through schools. These are continuous assessment, Head of institutions should invite parents to inform them on the upcoming assessment,” said NPA Chairman Mr Silas Obuhatsa.
Mr Obuhatsa said the Ministry of Education, Knec, KICD, TSC among others have called for a stakeholder meeting on CBC.
“The Ministry of Education and Knec have done their work. Education dialogue is coming up very soon, we urge parents to come out in large numbers and air their views on what they feel should be improved as far as CBC is concerned,” said Mr Obuhatsa.
More than 1.2 million Grade 9 learners will sit for their assessment in November for transition to Senior School next year.
The pioneer cohort of the CBC currently in Junior School will sit for their assessment in November to support educators in aligning them with career pathways and schools.
It is in Grade 9 where teachers, parents and the candidates select their career pathways.
Kenya has adopted three pathways in Senior Schools: Social Sciences, Arts and Sports, and Science Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM).
Each pathway will offer a unique set of subjects and learning experiences that align with specific career paths.
The students will be placed in Senior School in January 2026 whose selection will be based on pathways that will take into consideration learners' abilities, interests, and career choices.
The Senior School guidelines for placement are ready. For the last one year Teachers Service Commission has been urging education stakeholders led by principals to ensure they select atleast two career pathways and put up enough infrastructure.
The Ministry of Education has been piloting with two schools in Meru County to help guide secondary schools in selecting career pathways.
Basic Education Principal Secretary Dr Belio Kipsang said the candidates will be assessed later this year ahead of the transition to Senior School.
"As a commitment of our President William Ruto to ensure we transition smoothly in all that we are doing in the competency-based education, we have built 15,000 classrooms for our Junior School in Grade 9, we have distributed 9.9 million books and employed 20,000 teachers," said Dr Kipsang recently.
The PS said 2025 is the defining year for CBC as the inaugural Grade 9 class seat for their final assessment in JS.
"This is the year we shall be transiting our children from JS to Senior School, this will be the first time that children will be moving from one environment to a new one," he said.
Dr Kipsang said for the past nine years the learners have been learning in the same environment in the primary schools.
“Their first six years in primary school they were in the same environment, another three years in JS they were in the same environment. In November they will be doing summative assessment which will support us in aligning them in pathways and schools," added the PS.
Schools have begun sensitizing the Grade 9 students and parents on the career pathways.
“Parents are inquisitive about career pathways so we decided to be holding a series of seminars with all stakeholders to explain the same,” said Mr George Gitonga, the director of Fairfield Academy.
He urged schools to sensitise parents and equip them with knowledge on the career pathways to advise their children.
“Children will chose their pathways as per their interests, capabilities, and competencies. We are trying to inculcate and make our children understand these issues. I am a teacher and I can tell you CBC is the way to go if schools are well-equipped, however, it is very expensive,” he said.
He urged the state to equip public schools with infrastructure to boost learning.
