Usawa Agenda Executive Director Dr. Emmanuel Manyasa has urged President William Ruto to convert the Housing Levy into a school development levy.
In an interview with Citizen TV on its 9:00pm prime news on Tuesday, Dr. Manyasa said the creation of school development levies will facilitate the construction of classrooms and laboratories, especially in sub county schools.
” This will lead to regional balance in national exams and construction of laboratories in every sub county. It will also lead to the acquisition of the right teachers and proper infrastructure,” he said.
Dr Manyasa noted that proposals by the Ministry of Education to allocate 20% of the marks to learners in Grade 9 national exams based on performance in Kenya Primary School Education Assessment (KPSEA) is unrealistic.
“Some Learners in Grade 9 didn’t sit for KPSEA exams, wondering where they will acquire the 20% of the marks. The education body should instead consider school based assessment in awarding 20% of the marks instead of KPSEA.
Dr. Manyasa said learners who did KPSEA were at least 12 years old, wondering how they could determine their pathways in life at that tender age.
The Usawa Agenda boss said proposals by the education body to allocate 50% of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics(STEM) courses to learners were unrealistic, noting that most junior schools were assigned STEM teachers in January 2025, adding that such schools need only one pathway in humanities.
” Taking STEM as a career pathway may put hefty responsibility on learners that is full of risks and pressure on parents, thus the need to take one pathway which is accommodative.
JSS learners have experienced lab equipment for the first time, which is tailored towards certain paths as the government pledged to build laboratories to support learners in the wake of infrastructure challenges.
Placement of learners in Grade 10 will depend on learners’ choices, merit, psychometric tests, equity, and school capacity.
On selection of schools, learners will choose seven schools for first choice pathway, three schools for second choice pathway, and two schools for third choice pathway.
Categories of senior schools include day schools, which will entail triple and double pathways, hybrid schools, which will also take triple and double paths. Others will be vocational schools and special needs schools.
