Cabinet secretary (CS) for education Migos Ogamba has outlined govt readiness to achieve seamless rollout of grade 9 next year as he also cleared air on domiciling junior secondary school (JSS) in primary schools
He said the books for grade 9 have been prepared and they are being distributed
“We agreed with the head teachers that they remain in the schools until December 15 when all the books would have come, so if you have not received them they are on the way coming” he said
The CS said 46,000 teachers JSS have been confirmed on a permanent and pensionable basis saying it’s one of the things that he promised the Kenya national union of teachers (KNUT) that he was going to work very hard so that the teachers are confirmed and indeed they have been confirmed.
“Then we are also going to add another 20,000 teachers in JSS so that we have sufficient teachers so that our students get the best education,” he said appreciating the effort each stakeholder is playing
The CS was speaking when he officially opened grade nine classrooms at Ober boys boarding comprehensive schools in Rachuonyo Sub-County, Homa-Bay County built at cost sh 4 million funded by Kenya primary education equity in learning (KPEEL) programme of the World Bank in conjunction with the government of Kenya
Ober boys boarding has a student population of 781 with those now transitioning to grade 9 being 241 according to Bernard Juma, the school head teacher.
The CS who was engaged in a back to back commissioning of grade 9 classrooms in Nyanza region said the classrooms he has just launched are complete despite what he termed as backlash that they did not complete the projects
“This is a complete project that you can see with your own eyes, that it’s well done, it s completed, nothing is left unattended to including the blackboard is already inside,” he said
He said as a ministry they are working together with all stakeholders saying by working together they can face the challenges in the education sector and solve them.
“You support me, I will give you support to work together to solve the challenges that we have,” he said
Apart from the construction of classrooms and provision of text books the CS said next year they have a program of building laboratories.
On the domiciling of junior secondary school in primary level the CS said it is not something that was decided in a boardroom
“Presidential working party on education reforms (PWPER) went round the country and it is something that members of the public participated in,” he said
The CS said after JSS was domiciled in the primary schools as government it became very necessary that they had to do an assessment
“What do we require to be able to domicile them in primary schools and one was to confirm that we needed at least 16000 classrooms to be able to transition to grade 8 and 9,”he said
The second thing they did the CS said was an assessment of the cost of each classroom and devolved resources
“Each class room was taking one million shillings, if you are doing four classrooms you get sh 4 million, if you are doing two you get Sh 2 million and that devolution of resources has made it possible to this project to be done in record time,” the CS said.
He said in most of the schools they have gone to a class take an average of 8 weeks and they have completed because we agreed that “don’t start the classroom unless the money is in the account.”
The CS said he is happy the classrooms have been done with no variation, no waiting, no confusion, and no stories
“I want to take this opportunity to thank the school managements, the BOMs and the team that supported the construction of these classrooms,” he said.
The cabinet secretary encouraged school management teams to continue doing what they are doing and continue working together saying he is very sure with time they will see that they are doing the right thing and there is nothing better than just doing the right thing.
In Rachuonyo east Sub County already phase one of the classrooms construction is complete in the four schools that were benefiting from the KPEEL a programme that aims to improve education outcomes for all students in Kenya
These schools are Ober with four classrooms, Ringa primary school with four classrooms, Othoro primary schools with three classrooms and Kilusi primary school with two classrooms
Phase two and phase three with 20 and 8 classrooms respectively are also expected to be completed before by end of December 2024 according to Kennedy Gekera, the sub county director of education.
During the event the CS was accompanied by Homabay county commissioner Moses Lilan, county education officials among others guests.
By Moseti Julius
