The Ministry of Education has confirmed the release of Sh18.8 billion for the construction of 16000 Junior Secondary School classrooms for grade 9 learners to ensure easy transition, Education Cabinet Secretary Julius Ogamba has said.
Ogamba said the government is well prepared and committed to meet its obligations and the money is allocated for construction of classrooms in Primary schools where JSS is domiciled and are meant to accommodate grade 9 learners.
The CS spoke at St Paul Primary School in Athi River Machakos County on Thursday, as he inspected the ongoing construction of JSS classrooms for grade 9 where he emphasized the importance of completing the classes by January 2025.
“We are supposed to construct 16,000 classrooms and we have released money for all of them so that by January we have all the classes ready,” said CS Ogamba.
Additionally, he noted that they are collaborating with the NG-CDF in funding for the classrooms and out of the Sh18.8 billion, the NG-CDF is funding Sh7.8 billion for 5,000 classes while Sh11 billion is coming from the Education ministry to construct the 11,000 classes.
He affirmed that their cooperation will ensure JSS classes are complete by January 2025 and there will be no duplicity in construction of classes in the same school such that NG-CDF will not construct classes where the Ministry has already constructed.
“We are collaborating with NG-CDF and we are sharing data to ensure there is no duplicity in construction of classes,” said Ogamba.
Ogamba disclosed that the distribution of books will commence from the 22nd of October and by 15th December all books will have been distributed.
He further revealed that over 66,000 teachers have been retooled for JSS and more are expected in December in readiness for the January intake as they have plans to construct laboratories and libraries from next year to ensure students are well equipped to transition to Senior school.
By Anne Kangero
