As the clock continues to tick ahead of Grade 9 rollout in January, 2024, construction of 118 classrooms expected to accommodate the learners is ongoing in various primary schools in Ruiru Constituency, Kiambu County.
The multi-million projects are part of the 18,000 classrooms that the government has undertaken to complete before January next year for effective transition of Grade 8 learners to Grade 9.
Uncertainty has been surrounding the transition with most parents expressing fear over where to take their children as most schools have been ill-equipped.
According to Ruiru MP Simon King’ara, the 118 classrooms will go a long way in decongesting heavily packed schools, some of which have been accommodating over 100 learners per classroom despite the Ministry of Education’s recommendation of 40 students.
Speaking after inspecting construction works at Githunguri, Gatong’ora and Kahawa Wendani primary schools, King’ara noted that despite being a relief, more classes will be required to meet the huge population of learners in the constituency.
“We have a very high student population in Ruiru and these classrooms will go a long way in reducing congestion and ensuring that learners get a conducive environment to learn,” King’ara said.
The MP revealed that with the limited NG-CDF allocation, his constituency was compelled to seek help from other government agencies to put up the needed classrooms to cushion learners from any form of suffering.
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As of November 13, 2024, the first 3,500 classrooms out of the projected 18,000 were completed with the second phase of 7,500 classrooms being at 57% complete.
The third phase of 5,000 classrooms are in various stages of construction.
Besides the classrooms, other preparations including distribution of instructional materials in all schools in junior and primary schools alongside training of teachers on the same have been completed.
The government seeks to complete the full cycle for all three levels of CBC, in line with its directive to transition junior school to senior school by January 2026.
A section of parents who spoke to journalists expressed their joy saying that once complete, the classrooms will ease the burden that would have been passed to them.
They told journalists that they had fear over where their children would transit to when the construction works had not been started and urged the government to now employ more teachers to facilitate quality learning in the wake of increased population.
By Kamau Njoroge
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