Gov’t allocates Sh6.8b for 7,000 more Grade 9 classrooms

DICKSON MWITI-KNA 

The Basic Education Principal Secretary (PS), Belio Kipsang, has assured parents and Kenyans that the government will ensure Grade 9 classrooms are completed before schools open in January next year. 

Speaking at the Meru County headquarters after supervising the opening of the KCSE examination container, Dr. Kipsang said the government has already constructed 3,500 classrooms in phase one, while another 7,500 class rooms, which are between 40 percent and 90 percent complete in phase two, will be finished by December 15. 

This will bring the total number of class rooms to 11,000. 

In addition to the 11,000 classrooms, the PS added that MPs have a total of Sh6.8 billion allocated for the construction of an additional 7,000 class rooms, bringing the total to 18,000 classrooms for Grade 9.

“Our colleagues from the political side, the MPs, were given a conditional grant of Sh3.4 billion by the government and were supposed to match this amount with another Sh3.4 billion from the National Government Constituency Development Fund (NGCDF) to build an additional 7,000 class rooms and bring the total to 18,000,” Dr. Kipsang said. 

He added that the national government has also received Sh2 billion to be used to do another 2,000 classrooms, telling parents that there is no need to worry as all plans are on schedule, and that the government is in the course of implementing the Competency-Based Curriculum (CBC) Education. 

Dr Kipsang further said the government has also engaged some of its partners and acquired Sh2 billion which will be used to construct some 2,000 more classrooms. 

“We know in January there might be one or two schools which may have missed out for one reason or the other and these 2,000 classrooms will handle any cases that may arise by then. 

“We are also not blind to the fact that sometimes people do migrate and parents change schools and therefore a school may receive additional learners in Grade 9 who were not there in Grade 8, so these are cases that we shall be able to handle as we move to January,” Dr Kipsang said.