Several secondary schools in Murang’a County have benefited from 74 new projects that include classrooms, ablution blocks, and laboratories under the Secondary Education Quality Improvement Programme (SEQIP).
Speaking during the handover of two classrooms at Murang’a High School, the County Director of Education, Anne Kiilu, said that the project that was going on in Kigumo, Murang’a East, and Kandara sub-counties was a great addition to the existing infrastructure in local schools.
“We thank the World Bank for the SEQIP project because Murang’a County has benefited from a total of 74 projects that include classrooms, sanitation areas, and laboratories,” Kiilu said.
“The contractor is on site, and the project is continuing as scheduled and is now at 89 per cent completion in the three sub-counties,” she added.
Kiilu explained that SEQIP is a school infrastructure improvement programme that is funded by the World Bank in collaboration with the national government, and the projects are supposed to be completed by the September 30 deadline.
The intervention programme is geared towards improving the quality of education, enhancing retention in upper primary schools, and transitioning from primary to secondary education in targeted areas.
Murang’a High School Deputy Principal in Charge of Administration, Joseph Wachira, expressed gratitude to the government for the extra classrooms, saying they will help decongest the existing classrooms.
“Because of the 100 per cent transition initiative, we received a very high number of Form 1 students, and our classrooms are a bit crowded, with each having about 60 students,” he said, adding that he hoped that such programmes would continue as they improve the quality of education by improving infrastructure in the schools.
Njiiri High School Principal Gerrison Mwangi also expressed gratitude and said that the four classrooms funded by SEQIP in his school were a great addition as the students would be using them for their extended curriculum subjects such as fine arts and music.
“With these classrooms, the students can now have adequate space for practical subjects such as art and music,” he said.
By Purity Mugo