With just two months before learners in the pioneer class of the Competency-Based Curriculum (CBC) transition to Grade 9 , infrastructural and staffing challenges plague their progression even as the government claims that all is well.
There have also been varying figures given by top government officials on the number of classrooms needed as well as the status of preparations.
President William Ruto on Tuesday, October 29 2024 said that the government had finalised plans for the construction of 11,000 new classrooms ahead of the transition. This is in sharp contrast to a recent statement by the Cabinet Secretary for Education Julius Ogamba that only 3,500 classrooms have been completed.
Grade 9 is the last class in junior school under the CBC and is domiciled in primary schools, with many lacking extra space since under the 8-4-4 system, they had infrastructure to accommodate learners up to Standard 8 only.
Besides, junior schools remain understaffed and the planned recruitment of 20,000 teachers in January 2025, will on average add one teacher to the 23,000 public primary schools.
Speaking at the Second Ministerial Meeting of the Global School Meals Coalition in Nairobi, President Ruto announced that the government had finalised the process of building an additional 11,000 classrooms. The project is being financed by the World Bank. He added that 6,000 more classrooms will be built by Members of Parliament through the National Government Constituency Development Fund.
"We have not only finalised the process of building an additional 11,000 classrooms as a government initiative, but I have also asked our Members of Parliament to utilise the NG-CDF to construct 6,000 classrooms. By next year, we aim to ensure that every child in Grade 9 has a teacher and access to a classroom. I am very happy to announce that we have made learning materials available; there will be a book for every subject for every learner to ensure that the transition is effective,” he said.
This comes a week after Mr Ogamba revealed that the Ministry of Education has only completed the construction of 3,500 classrooms, far short of the target.
This figure represents only a fraction of the infrastructure needed to accommodate the learners by the January 2025 deadline. In August 2024, the ministry announced that the government was building 18,000 classrooms to accommodate Grade Nine learners in junior schools next year.
The ministry had announced that 11,000 classes were being built with support from development partners while 7,000 classes were being built through the NG-CDF.
"We have already completed 3,500 classrooms. The next batch of 7,500 is under construction, with completion rates ranging between 22 percent and 68 percent. Additionally, 5,000 more classrooms will be built in partnership with the ministry and other stakeholders, including the Constituency Development Fund,” Mr Ogamba said last week.
However, the classrooms are a far cry from the more than 32,000 classrooms and laboratories needed in over 23,000 primary schools to accommodate the 1.5 million Grade 9 learners. Practical subjects such as pre-technical science, health education, agriculture, home science and integrated science will require laboratories.
The President also said that the government has allocated Sh1 billion for 1,000 classrooms and plans to add 5,000 classrooms in Nairobi County, as many children are still in informal schools. While these informal schools are valuable initiatives, they often lack the necessary infrastructure.
“I will be meeting with Nairobi Members of Parliament to discuss education in the county. We have allocated 1 billion shillings for the construction of 1,000 classrooms and plan to add another 5,000 classrooms to ensure every child has access to education. There are still many children in informal schools which lack proper infrastructure. To address this, we have hired 56,000 teachers and are in the process of hiring an additional 20,000 teachers,” he said.
The President confirmed that learning materials have been made available, with a book for every subject for every learner to facilitate an effective transition.
“By next year, we aim to ensure that every child in Grade 9 has a teacher and access to a classroom. I am very happy to announce that we have made learning materials available; there will be a book for every subject for every learner to ensure that the transition is effective,” he said.
President Ruto further promised to expand the school feeding programme to cover 10 million school children by 2030, up from the current 2.6 million.
The President’s remarks come just a few months after the National Assembly omitted allocation to the programme in the 2024-2025 budget before reinstating it following a public outcry. However, he did not go into the details of how that will be achieved.
“Hunger remains a significant challenge to the well-being of many, particularly in arid regions. To address this, we have tripled the budgetary allocation for school feeding and set a clear goal: to expand the programme’s coverage from 2.6 million to 10 million children by 2030,” he said.
The Kenya Kwanza government promised to “double the amount of money allocated to the school feeding programme to immediately raise the number of beneficiaries from two million to four million, and to provide conditional grants to county governments to extend the programme and raise the numbers to eight million in primary and Early Child Development schools”.
Pasi Hellman, the under-secretary of State for International Development at the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland, noted that the Government of Finland had played a pivotal role in establishing the Global School Meals Coalition. Finland is the co-chair of this School Meals Coalition.
Launched in collaboration with the Government of France during the United Nations Food Systems Summit in 2021, the coalition has grown remarkably, now encompassing 105 countries and over 130 partners within just three years.
"The role of the Government of Finland in the Global School Meals Coalition has been quite important," Mr Hellman stated, emphasising Finland’s political and financial commitment to the initiative. The coalition aims to ensure that children receive nutritious meals at school, a vital component of their learning and overall health.
Finland’s contributions include financial support for school meals programmes in various countries, with plans to expand initiatives in Kenya. Hellman highlighted the latest commitment of €5.5 million, which will be allocated to school meal programs across several African nations and to support the coalition’s Secretariat within the World Food Programme.
"This is important for us because, from our own history, we started nationally in Finland to provide free school meals for students in the 1940s, when we were fairly poor ourselves," he explained.
