Speaker Wetang’ula Seeks Lasting Solution to JSS Challenges in Primary Schools
As the Basic Education Bill amendments move to the House floor, the question of where Junior Secondary School sits has become one of the most consequential issues Parliament must settle.
National Assembly Speaker Hon. (Dr.) Moses Wetang’ula has directed the Chairperson of the Departmental Committee on Education, Hon. Julius Melly, to address concerns raised by members of the public and teachers over Junior Secondary Schools (JSS) being domiciled in primary schools.
The directive comes at a pivotal moment. The Committee had concluded public participation on six education reform bills in all 47 counties, ending in Bomet on 2nd October 2026.
The proposed amendments to the Basic Education Act are now in Parliament. If the House passes them, they will go to President William Ruto for assent, the last step before they become law.
The Speaker’s Concerns
Speaker Wetang’ula’s central worry is capacity. Primary schools, he observed, do not have the structures or the personnel to handle the volume of public resources that a combined primary and junior secondary model brings with it.
He challenged Hon. Melly to work with the Ministry of Education so that the most critical aspects of JSS are handled by qualified personnel.
The Speaker is not questioning the policy intent of the comprehensive school model. He is asking whether the people and systems running these institutions are equal to the responsibility.
His most pointed fear is the possible misappropriation of capitation funds, which are currently sent to primary schools.
Capitation is the government’s per-learner grant, and it is often the main source of operating money for a public school.
Money that follows learners into JSS classrooms must be accounted for carefully, because the sums involved are larger and the spending is more complex than in a traditional primary school.
Why the Concern Is Not New
Questions about domiciling JSS in primary schools have followed the policy since its introduction under the Competency-Based Curriculum. Post-primary teachers’ unions have opposed it.
Kenya Union of Post Primary Education Teachers (KUPPET) Secretary General Akello Misori has argued that hosting junior secondary in primary schools is a return to the past curriculum, and that requirements such as laboratories make it practically impossible.
Secondary school heads have likewise insisted that JSS should be domiciled in secondary schools.
Primary school heads have largely taken the opposite view. Their association has backed the government’s decision to keep JSS in existing primary schools, while asking for higher capitation to meet rising demand.
Legislators have raised their own worries in committee. During budget hearings, some MPs argued that Grade Nine should sit in secondary schools because they have better-trained teachers and better infrastructure, and that gaps in JSS capitation funding were troubling.
The Speaker’s intervention therefore reflects a broader concern in the House and the education sector. It has not appeared out of nowhere.
Money, Management and Accountability
The funding question has two parts. The first is how much money reaches schools and when.
Disbursement delays and shortfalls have been a recurring complaint before the Education Committee. The second is what happens to the money once it arrives. This is the part the Speaker has highlighted.
A primary school headteacher who is now responsible for a junior secondary section takes on far more than before.
There are more learners, more subjects, more specialised teaching and learning materials, and larger capitation flows.
Without strong financial management capacity, that expanded responsibility becomes a risk. It exposes schools to weak procurement, poor record-keeping and, in the worst cases, outright loss of funds.
The reported experience of schools adds to the concern. Parliamentary committees have previously heard complaints about heads imposing levies on parents whose children joined JSS, with some charging as much as Ksh 8,000 for Grade 7 learners.
Those complaints concerned illegal charges rather than capitation misappropriation. They do show how quickly oversight problems can emerge when a new level of schooling is added to existing institutions.
The Link to the Basic Education Bill Amendments
The Speaker’s directive matters because it intersects directly with the Basic Education Bill amendments now before Parliament.
The proposals classify institutions as public or private and introduce a comprehensive school model that brings primary and junior secondary school under one institution. In effect, the bill would give statutory backing to the arrangement the Speaker has questioned.
That makes this the point where the concern can be addressed in law rather than only in policy. Once the bill is passed and assented to, changing the model will be much harder.
Several other proposals in the bill bear on the Speaker’s concerns:
Boards of Management: The bill would change the composition of BoMs, removing teacher and student representatives, and require members to declare conflicts of interest. If BoMs are to oversee larger budgets in comprehensive schools, their composition and accountability mechanisms deserve close scrutiny.
Quality assurance and data: The bill introduces a Director of the school inspectorate with reach to zonal level, and places new emphasis on the Kenya Education Management Information System (KEMIS). Used well, these could strengthen monitoring of how capitation is used.
Fees and levies: The proposals criminalise illegal fee collection and make it a matter of personal liability, which addresses part of the accountability gap.
Cabinet Secretary powers: The bill expands the Cabinet Secretary’s powers in managing basic education. Supporters may see this as helpful for enforcement. Critics will ask about oversight and the balance between national and county roles.
What the Committee Must Now Do
With hearings concluded, the Committee will retreat to analyse the submissions, review the bills, propose amendments where justified and prepare a report for the House.
Speaker Wetang’ula’s directive adds a specific task to that process: engaging the Ministry of Education to ensure the critical aspects of JSS are run by qualified personnel.
In practical terms, that engagement could cover several questions:
- Who manages JSS finances? Whether primary schools need trained finance and accounting staff, or whether some functions should be supported at sub-county or county level.
- Who teaches and leads JSS? How qualified teachers are deployed and how headship and principalship roles are defined.
- How capitation is tracked. Whether stronger reporting, audit and KEMIS-based monitoring should be written into the law.
- How infrastructure gaps are closed. Whether laboratories, workshops and other facilities should be shared with nearby secondary schools or built.
The Committee’s answers will shape the amendments it recommends, and those amendments will largely determine how the comprehensive school model operates in practice.
The Road Ahead: From Committee to Assent
It is important to be clear about where the bill stands. Public participation does not make a bill law, and neither does a committee report. The bill is now in Parliament.
After the Committee tables its report, the House will debate and vote. If the amendments are passed, they will await assent by President William Ruto. Only then do they become law.
That sequence makes the present weeks the best opportunity to resolve the JSS question. Amendments are far easier to make before passage than after assent.
Concerns about capacity and the safety of capitation funds, now carrying the Speaker’s backing, can still be turned into concrete safeguards in the text of the bill.
What Stakeholders Should Watch
Teachers, parents, school heads and unions have invested time in the 47-county exercise. They now have good reason to watch three things closely:
- The Committee’s report, which will show whether concerns about JSS capacity and capitation safeguards were reflected in the recommended amendments.
- Debate in the House, where Members can propose further changes, including on BoM composition and the powers of the Cabinet Secretary.
- Any commitments by the Ministry on staffing, training and financial controls for JSS, which should be specific and measurable rather than general assurances.
Stakeholders can also engage their MPs directly. The Committee’s report will reveal how far the submissions from across the country shaped the final text, and that will be the real test of whether public participation was meaningful.
Conclusion
Speaker Wetang’ula’s directive recognises a simple point. A reform is only as strong as the institutions that carry it out.
Merging primary and junior secondary education under one roof may suit the realities of the Competency-Based Curriculum, but it also places new demands on schools that were not built for them.
Those demands cover qualified personnel, sound financial management and careful protection of public money.
By asking the Education Committee to work with the Ministry on these questions, the Speaker has put them at the centre of the debate at the right time.
The bill is in Parliament, the amendments are still open, and assent by President Ruto is the final step.
What Parliament decides in the coming weeks will determine how Kenya’s learners are admitted, governed and taught, and whether the public money meant for them reaches the classroom.
