Machakos County Director of Education Margaret Murigi has urged parents to release their children to school despite the national teachers' strike.
Murigi said teachers in the county were ready to work, unlike their counterparts in other parts of the country.
She, however, retaliated by saying that teachers turned up to work on Monday only to meet empty classrooms.
"All teachers were in school. They reported to school, but the learners' turn-up was low," Murigi said.
Murigi spoke to reporters when she laid the foundation for Grade 9 classroom construction at St Paul's Primary and Junior Secondary School in Athi River, Machakos County, on Monday.
"I'm appealing to parents in Machakos County to release their children to go to school because teachers are waiting for the learners. Let them come and learn," Murigi said.
She said the Ministry of Education was constructing 107 Grade 9 classrooms in 64 schools across Machakos County.
"The construction works have started in every subcounty, and we are closely monitoring the progress. Some of the classrooms are at lintel levels, while others are at slab and walling levels," Murigi said.
Murigi said construction works will have been completed by the end of September, ready for commissioning and usage by Grade 9 students in January 2025.
The education boss said the capitation grants had also been released to all schools in the county.
She said funds for the Grade 9 KP programme were wired to schools in July.
Murigi said the programme was being implemented in two phases; one and two, according to the schools' needs.
"All schools will be considered. Other than that, there is some money that is given to all schools depending on enrolment. We expect every school to be constructing at least one project, be it toilets, purchasing lockers or equipping a laboratory. There is no school that hasn't been supported by the Ministry of Education for infrastructure development," Murigi said.
She said the Ministry had put down programmes and measures in place to ensure that Grade 9 students have classrooms and are comfortable to undertake their studies.
Murigi warned contractors awarded tenders to construct the classrooms against doing shoddy jobs.
"My directive to the contractors is that they need to build quality classrooms because everything has been provided, including the structural drawings and BQ," Murigi said.
"They all come from the Ministry of Education, and the heads of institutions, together with the board of management, are the immediate supervisors of the projects supported by the subcounty director of education, county director of education (myself), and stakeholders. We shall be monitoring the progress of these projects."
