Education stakeholders in Machakos have vowed to ensure that all grade 9 students, especially in the rural areas, are enrolled to Junior Secondary schools.
The stakeholders, comprising a multi-agency team, including sub-county directors, village elders, education officers, Chiefs and their assistants, who went to the grassroots level in search of students who have not yet enrolled in grade 9.
Machakos County Director of Education Margaret Mwirigi, while speaking to the media, said that they were working with several stakeholders to ensure not only grade 9 but all students have reported back to school.
She disclosed that the Ministry of Education, through the Kenya Primary Education Equity in Learning (KPEEL) program, had constructed 106 classrooms to completion in phase 1 and that they were distributed across the 9 subcounties in Machakos County.
In phase two, some 214 classrooms were constructed to completion while 22 classrooms in phase three had slackened due to delays in government funding.
Another 142 classrooms have been planned for construction in phase four to accommodate the junior secondary school students.
“We are well prepared, and we are at 95% on grade 9 transition,” said Mwirigi.
Mwirigi said one of the main challenges they had was inadequate classrooms in that out of 776 JSS schools in the county, 217 are yet to get enough grade 9 classes.
The official said they have countered the challenge by ensuring the schools that do not have grade 9 classes have retained their students in their grade 8 classrooms while others have utilized laboratories as well as partitioning of classes to address the shortfall.
Faith Maeke, the head teacher for Gwata Primary and Junior Secondary in Mlolongo, acknowledged the government’s efforts in ensuring 100% transition for grade 9 by constructing 10 classrooms and employing 10 JSS teachers for different subjects.
She noted they have been provided with desks and textbooks to provide a proper learning environment in order to boost morale and performance.
“We have 10 classes for grade 9, and we started receiving books in November 2024, and we are still receiving them,” said Maeke.
By Anne Kangero