Principal Secretary in the State Department for Basic Education Dr. Belio Kipsang has reiterated that his department has put in place the necessary measures to ensure smooth transition of grade eight pupils to grade nine next year.
Speaking when he toured Masikonde Primary school in Narok central sub county to assess the ongoing construction of classrooms for the grade nine pupils, Dr. Kipsang said the construction of 11, 000 classrooms was on-going country wide in preparation for grade nine.
He said another 5, 000 classrooms will be constructed by the National Government Constituency Development Fund (NG-CDF), to achieve a total of 16, 000 classrooms that were needed for the grade nine pupils.
“As we speak, 11, 000 classrooms are in various levels of completion countrywide. We are working with Members of Parliament and NG-CDF to support us with 5, 000 classrooms,” he said.
He reported that the ministry had allocated an extra Sh1 billion for schools in Nairobi County because of their unique challenges.
On the curriculum, the PS reported that the Kenya Institute for Curriculum Development (KICD) had prepared and finalized the required books for grade nine.
“Between October and November, our schools will start receiving books that will be used by the grade nine pupils. The books will be given at a ratio of 1 is to 1,” he underscored.
At the same time, he said, the government will recruit an additional 20, 000 teachers for junior secondary so as to make the transition from grade eight to nine very smooth.
“Already we have recruited 56, 000 teachers for junior secondary in the last one and half years. This is the highest number of teachers to be recruited at once in the country,” he said.
He said a pilot assessment for grade nine was conducted in July to prepare the pupils for the kind of assessment they will do in grade nine.
“In November, while running our normal examination, we shall run another pilot which is a replica of the exam we will do in grade nine so that the teachers and pupils will be able to prepare adequately for grade nine national examination,”, said Dr.Kipsang.
On school capitation, PS Kipsang said his ministry worked closely with the treasury to release Sh 21. 8 billion for capitation, where Sh6 billion will be used for junior schools, Sh14 billion for secondary schools and Sh1.8 billion for primary schools.
By Ann Salaton
