All Junior Secondary Schools will operate from 8.20am to 4pm, with learners expected to take nine lessons a day each lasting for forty minutes.
Various activities taking place between 7-8.20am and after the lessons between 4-5pm should be indicated on the timetable.
English and Mathematics must be slotted for a lesson in the time table every day.
Physical Education and Sports lessons are to be taught before lunch and be plotted just before a break, while subjects that aim at developing related or similar skills such as English and Kiswahili or Kenya Sign Language, Integrated Science and Health Education should not be taught consecutively.
Pre-technical studies be allocated two double lessons per week while the practical subjects — which include Integrated Science, Agriculture, Computer Science, Home Science be allocated a double lesson per week and Visual and Performing Arts to be allocated a single lesson.
All other subjects should be allocated a single lesson per day and provision made in the timetable to cater for the optional subjects.
Learners study the 12 core subjects as well as 1 or 2 subjects from the Visual Arts, Performing Arts, Home Science, Computer Science, foreign/ indigenous languages.
Learners not able to follow the regular curriculum will follow the Stage-based Pathway and Curriculum, which is pegged on achievement of identified milestones rather than on the age of the learner.
These include learners who are deaf, blind, have severe autism, or have intellectual and multiple disabilities.
In the special JSSs category on pre-vocational curriculum, learners will have eight lessons a day for five days, 40 a week.
There will be individualised learning and allocation of time depending on completion and mastery of specific tasks.
“The pre-vocational level timetable should be implemented as follows: the official operating hours will be from 8am to 3:30pm on Monday to Friday.
All learning areas are compulsory for every student and for religious education, learners select the learning area based on their faith.
According to the Ministry of Education, the JSS Science curriculum emphasises on inquiry-based learning experiences, which accord learners the opportunity to use content knowledge to develop information processing and problem-solving skills.
Pre-technical studies curriculum will be conducted in classrooms except where learning involves activities that require visits to local sites such as construction areas, businesses, industries and the local community to acquire the necessary skills.
Schools should ensure they leverage the resources available in the compound and the environs and ensure affordability when purchasing manila papers, drawing papers, geometrical sets, first-aid kit, digital and assistive devices.
Parents will be expected to support the learners in extended activities.
There will also be learner support programmes to enhance implementation of JSS and pre-vocational level curriculum.
Community Service Learning will also be provided, which is an educational activity that provides experiential learning to integrate theory and practice.
There will also be Value Based Education (VBE), which is anchored on culture, religion, morals and societal values.
