Schools in Machakos county have reported success in the ongoing Grade 9 transition.
Several school heads said they had not encountered any challenges in the transition process from 8– 4 – 4 to CBC.
They attributed the success to the government’s support through the Ministry of Education, Teachers Service Commission, as well as cooperation from various education stakeholders.
“We have constructed four Grade 9 classrooms and procured 250 desks for our learners who are transiting to the next grades,” Mavoko Primary and Junior School headteacher Patrick Muthee said.
The tens of school managers spoke to the Star at their institutions on diverse dates between January 6 and 22. The government through the Education ministry’s KPEEL programme 2024 – 2026 has funded the construction of Grade 9 classrooms across the country.
“We are so far doing well and ready for more learners. The TSC deployed two more Grade 9 teachers to our school. So we are ready and rolling,” Muthee said.
He said they had received text books for all subjects from the ministry.
“We are expecting 287 learners to join Grade 9 in our school. Grade 7 has 300 learners already. The success has been made possible by our good working relationship with the ministry, Teachers Service Commission and other stakeholders,” Muthee said.
He said it had been a swift move from Grades 7, 8 and 9.
Muthee said the construction of Grade 9 classrooms in their school started on November 4 and was completed by January 3. Seme Primary and Junior Secondary School head Anthony Ngatia said transition was equally successful at the institution.
“We are well prepared for the Grade 9 transition. We have built two classrooms through the help of the Ministry of Education. We also have enough text books from the ministry,” he said.
Ngatia said they are grateful to the government for the support hence making it easy for them to transit.
“Learners are enjoying the school’s new infrastructure and facilities courtesy of the government funds. We are expected to have 89–99 learners in Grade 9 and over 70 per cent have reported,” Ngatia told the Star at the institution on January 7.
He said the school had a population of 416 learners, 180 learners are in JSS. “We are prepared. We have spacious classrooms, enough teachers and text books,” Ngatia said.
Ngwata Primary and Junior School headteacher Faith Maeke said enrolment for Grade 9 learners was at 550 by January 9 when the Star visited the institution. Maeke said the government had constructed 10 Grade 9 classrooms in the school.
“As you can see, the classrooms are ready and in use. The Ministry of Education also deployed Grade 9 teachers and learners have good environment to undertake their studies,” Maeke said.
She said the school started receiving the text books as early as November last year and are still receiving them. “Ngwata primary and JSS has received most of the text books for Grade 9 and the learners are ready. The school also has 10 junior school teachers who handle different subjects in each of the classes. We are sure that come the end of next year, the learners will have what is right from the school,” Maeke said.
The public school has a computer class and equipped science laboratory. It has a population of 3,750 learners from Grades 1–9.
“We work hand in hand with parents and learners to make the transition from Grades 7, 8 and 9 a success. CBC is I do, you do, we do. Parents are always ready to assist learners and school as we transit to junior school,” Maeke said.
Athi River Primary and Junior School headteacher Esther Musila said the institution has a population of 2,280 learners.
“We are ready for Grade 9 since all learners received text books from the government. There is a ratio of one to one in all the subjects,” Musila said.
She said they had enough teachers for junior school, courtesy of TSC. The government constructed six classrooms in the school. She said they had enough desks for the learners.
“This year, we didn’t admit any learner in Grade 9. It’s the candidates’ class.
There were, however, admissions in Grade 7. We have stopped admissions from Grade 4 and 8,” Musila said. She said admissions in PP1–Grade 3 were ongoing in the school. Athi River Primary and Junior School has 408 Grade 9 learners.
The government built four Grade 9
classrooms in Mlolongo Primary and
Junior School instead of six