The first cohort of Grade 7 students is expected to report to their respective Primary Schools today to pursue their Junior Secondary education. 

However, a number of students, who could not be domiciled in their primary schools will have to go to new schools after the Ministry of Education’s move to consolidate schools that did not meet the junior secondary school hosting criteria. 

This has now become a thorn in the flesh for some grade 7 parents, as some of their children have been moved to schools that are beyond the two kilometre radius, making it difficult for them to access the schools for the junior secondary education. 

In Elgeyo Marakwet County, a section of parents do not agree with the verdict from the ministry of education. 

“We were shocked to hear that Seret Primary will not host JSS. Why? We have met a lot of qualifications but we are told to take students to Chamnada, 7 kilometres away. And the road is impassable during rainy seasons,” says one concerned parent. 

The parents now want the ministry of education alongside the local leadership to intervene. 

“We do not want the current arrangements, and on Monday our students will not report to school,” another parent says. 

As those in feeder schools continue with their protests, other parents are equally grappling with the challenge of getting their children ready for school. 

Many institutions, especially public ones are yet to identify the uniforms the JSS studets will be wearing, further crippling the preparations and exposing parents to what they say are exploitative business practises in schools. 

“We are being told to buy uniforms in school, yet the prices are high. We are also required to pay admission fees,” says Rose Ananda. 

The parents are also decrying what they say is the short period accorded to them to get everything in order for the opening of the JSS. 

While the ministry of education has pledged to dispatch textbooks to all public schools, parents still have to provide their children with exercise books for the expanded curriculum that sees the number of subjects offered at JSS increase to fourteen. 

The ministry has also released funds for tuition for children in public schools and instructed schools not to charge any extra levies in public schools. 

But some parents say this is not being observed and are now asking that the same government ensures that its own directives are upheld.