The Ministry of Education has so far completed about 4,000 classrooms out of the over 10,000 expected to host junior secondary school students under the Competency-Based Curriculum (CBC).
Cabinet Secretary George Magoha Saturday said the remaining 6,490 classrooms will be completed by the end of next month as scheduled.
“We are now approaching 80 per cent in terms of works and we shall continue with the construction even during the ongoing examination. Many counties are going to complete their classes this weekend,” he said.
“I am urging field officers to encourage those who have not completed the classrooms to do so within the stipulated timeline.”
The over 10,000 classrooms form the first phase of the project. Prof Magoha said the government has set aside money for phase two of the classroom project.
The phase is expected to start as soon as the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) exam ends.
“We hope that by the time we are leaving government in August, we will have completed 10,000 classrooms at a cost Sh788,000 each,” he said.
The CS was in Kiambu, where he commissioned classrooms. On Wednesday and Thursday, he opened others in Nairobi.
President Uhuru Kenyatta ordered the Treasury to allocate Sh8 billion for the construction of 10,000 additional classrooms ahead of the junior secondary education roll-out.
More than one million children are currently in Grade Five and they will be expected to transition to junior secondary next year in Grade Seven.
Under the project, the government is constructing a classroom or two in select schools as needed. The Ministry of Education has estimated construction of 20,000 classrooms.
The government has yet to give details of how the Grade Six pupils will be placed in junior secondary schools. The learners, currently at Grade Five, will join Grade Six in May.
They are expected to sit their national examination in November to enable them to transition to Grade Seven, the first class in junior secondary school, in January next year.
Prof Magoha said the national examination for the Grade Six learners has been printed and urged candidates and teachers to continue preparing. This is the pioneer class under the CBC.
By the time they are sitting the national exam, they will have earned their 60 marks from the national assessments they have been doing in grades three, four and five. In the November national assessment, they will earn 40 marks to make a total 100 marks.
