The government is committed to delivering 16, 000 Grade 9
classrooms across the country by January 2025, Education CS Julius Ogamba has
said.
Ogamba said as a ministry, they had already released money for the construction of more than 11, 000 classrooms across the country.
“We are supposed to do 16, 000 classrooms. We have already
released money for all of them. Sh11 billion has been released for 11, 000 classes,
while Sh7.8 billion was released to National Government CDF for 5, 000
classrooms,” Ogamba said.
He addressed the press after laying the foundation for the construction of Grade 9 classrooms at St Paul’s primary and Junior Secondary
School in Athi River, Machakos County, on Thursday.
The CS also toured Mua Farm Primary and JSS School in
Machakos subcounty and Muumandu Primary and JSS School in Kalama subcounties in
Machakos County where he inspected the ongoing construction of Grade 9
classrooms.
He said the Ministry of Education was partnering with
Members of Parliament to ensure that there is no duplication of classrooms’ construction
in certain schools.
“Where CDF is doing the project, we don’t do the
same. So that, by January, we have all the classes ready,” Ogamba said.
Ogamba said the distribution of books in schools will commence
on October 22 and end by December 15, 2024.
“We are retooling teachers. We have already retooled almost
66, 000 to do junior schools. So, we are well prepared. We don’t want to see a
scenario where January comes and we have a challenge,” Ogamba said.
He said as a ministry, they were working day and night to
ensure they met infrastructure, books and teachers by January 2025.
The CS said they will retool more teachers in December; hence
no need for alarm as matters transition to senior schools.
“We are ready and good. The government is committed to
ensuring that we meet our obligations. There was a scientific assessment to show
that we need 16, 000 classrooms,” Ogamba said.
Ogamba said the scientific number was based on the number of learners who are going to transition to senior schools. He said they will be constructing laboratories and libraries.
“We are doing these to ensure that when the children will be
transitioning to senior schools, they will be well equipped,” Ogamba said.
Ogamba reiterated that there was a perception that the government
wasn’t delivering as far as CBC was concerned.
“We have a challenge in this sector. There is a perception out there that we aren’t delivering. We have the largest number of children, schools, and teachers and we are managing to deal with all those issues together in collaboration with TSC, National Treasury and NGCDF, and we are doing a good job,” Ogamba said.