The Ministry of Education has put in place the necessary measures to ensure a smooth transition of Grade 8 pupils next year, Principal Secretary for Basic Education, Dr Belio Kipsang has said.
Kipsang said the construction of 11, 000 classrooms is ongoing countrywide in preparation for Grade 9 pupils.
The PS spoke during a visit to Masikonde Primary School in Narok Central Subcounty to assess the ongoing construction of classrooms for the Grade 9 pupils.
Kipsang said 5, 000 classrooms will be constructed by the National Government Constituency Development Fund, to achieve a total of 16, 000 units that were needed for the Grade 9 pupils.
“As we speak, 11, 000 classrooms are at 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 had prepared and finalised the required books for Grade nine.
“Between October and November, our schools will start receiving books that will be used by Grade 9 pupils. The books will be given at a ratio of 1 to 1,” Kipsang said.
He said the government will recruit 20, 000 teachers for Junior Secondary to make the transition from Grade 8-9 smooth.
“We have recruited 56, 000 teachers for Junior Secondary in the last one and a half years. This is the highest number of teachers to be recruited at once,” Kipsang said.
He said a pilot assessment for Grade 9 was conducted in July to prepare the pupils for the kind of assessment they will do in Grade 9.
“In November, while running our normal examination, we shall run a replica of the one we will do in Grade 9 to enable teachers and pupils to prepare adequately for the Grade 9 examination, Kipsang said.
On school capitation, the PS said his ministry has worked closely with the Treasury to release Sh21. 8 billion for capitation, where Sh6 billion will be used for Junior Secondary, Sh14 billion for secondary schools, and Sh1.8 billion for primary schools.
