Education Cabinet Secretary Julius Migos Ogamba, has commissioned Grade 9 classrooms in a development tour of Kabete Constituency, Kiambu County where he also assessed textbook distribution.
Ogamba toured Uthiru, Rukube, Ngure, and Muguga Comprehensive Schools, where institutions where he inaugurated the newly completed classrooms that were built through a partnership between the National Government-Constituency Development Fund and the Ministry of Education.
Speaking at Ngure Junior School, Ogamba highlighted that 14,500 out of the targeted 16,000 junior secondary classrooms have been completed, with the remaining projects at various stages of completion.
“We have completed 14,500 of the required 16,000 classrooms. I will provide a full report on Friday, January 31, to confirm the progress,” the CS said.
The CS lauded President William Samoei Ruto’s administration of for its efforts towards ensuring equitable access to quality education.
“Under the leadership of our President, we have ensured all children in Kiambu County and across the country receive quality education. The Competency-Based Curriculum (CBC) equips learners with universal skills to compete globally,” he said.
He commended the Kiambu County Government for ensuring the proper utilization of funds allocated to the education sector.
“We inspected these classrooms because, in some cases, funds are misused, and projects are incomplete. Here, we can confirm that the work has been done,” he said, urging the media to verify the completed projects.
Regarding textbooks, the CS announced that the government has published and distributed 9.9 million textbooks for grade 9 learners, fully funded to relieve parents of financial burdens.
“No parent should be asked to pay for textbooks, as the government has covered all costs to ensure equitable access to education,” he emphasized.
The CS also confirmed the employment of 76,000 Junior Secondary School teachers within two years, with an additional 20,000 to be recruited to address teacher shortages adding that training programs for teachers are ongoing to align with the CBC curriculum.
The government has allocated Sh48 billion for Grade 9 learners saying Sh19 billion has been disbursed with Sh14 billion to be released this week while the remaining funds would be disbursed later, according to the CS.
He reiterated the government’s commitment to providing adequate teachers and education infrastructure to ensure no child is left behind.
By John Kariba