The government will spend over Sh340 million to construct 435 classrooms in selected schools in Makueni county to enhance smooth transition of Competency Based Curriculum (CBC) learners to Junior Secondary in 2023.
The County Commissioner Maalim Mohammed said the government will build one to five classrooms in 324 out of 390 schools, distributed among the nine sub counties in the area by April 2022.
Kibwezi sub county will benefit from 78 classrooms that will be constructed in 58 schools, Makueni 62 classes in 43 schools, Nzaui 55 classrooms in 43 schools, Mukaa 47 classrooms in 34 schools, Mbooni west 46 classrooms in 32 schools, Mbooni East 40 classrooms in 33 schools, Kilungu 34 classrooms in 22 schools, Kathonzweni 40 classrooms in 32 schools, while 33 classrooms will be constructed in 27 schools in Makindu.
“This will translate to 83% of the schools benefiting from the CBC Infrastructure Development Programme,” said Mohammed during briefing of the County and sub county teams on building of the new classrooms at the Makueni Boys High School.
The county commissioner reiterated that this initiative was in line with President Uhuru Kenyatta’s commitment on CBC in ensuring that children sharpen their talents and maximize their opportunities and achieve 100 per cent transition from primary to secondary school.
Consequently, he challenged the youth, women and Persons Living with Disabilities who are contractors to register and seek for pre-qualification in their respective sub counties in the next one week.
“We really want to support our youths, women and the disabled by giving a priority to work, let them not continue complaining, but make sure they are duly registered by the government and apply in their respective sub counties in order to reap from the government stimulus program to cushion Kenyans from effects of Covid-19,” added Mohammed.
The county commissioner added that chiefs and their assistants will supervise the construction of classrooms in their areas of jurisdiction to ensure proper coordination noting that one class will cost an average of Sh788,220.
He also emphasized that the contractors will be paid electronically through mobile money transfer to minimize fraud and corruption.
However, the government will only pay for completed projects, with no advance payment. The contractors are therefore requested to look for financial facilitation or seek Local Purchase Orders (LPO) financing, added Mohammed.
Others present during the briefing was the County Director of Education James Gachungi, Teachers Service Commission County Director Alex Cheruiyot, Deputy Sub County Commissioners and members of the county/sub county development implementation committee.
By Ronald Rono
