Grade 8 to smoothly transit to grade 9 next year

𝐏𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐢𝐩𝐚𝐥 𝐒𝐞𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐲 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐃𝐞𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐁𝐚𝐬𝐢𝐜 𝐄𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐃𝐫. 𝐁𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐨 𝐊𝐢𝐩𝐬𝐚𝐧𝐠 𝐡𝐚𝐬 𝐫𝐞𝐢𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐝𝐞𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐡𝐚𝐬 𝐩𝐮𝐭 𝐢𝐧 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐧𝐞𝐜𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐚𝐫𝐲 𝐦𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐬𝐦𝐨𝐨𝐭𝐡 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐨𝐟 𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐝𝐞 𝐞𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐩𝐮𝐩𝐢𝐥𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐝𝐞 𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐞 𝐧𝐞𝐱𝐭 𝐲𝐞𝐚𝐫.

Speaking when he toured Masikonde Primary school in Narok central sub county to assess the ongoing construction of classrooms for the grade nine pupils, Dr. Kipsang said the construction of 11, 000 classrooms was on-going country wide in preparation for grade nine.

He said another 5, 000 classrooms will be constructed by the National Government Constituency Development Fund (NG-CDF), to achieve a total of 16, 000 classrooms that were needed for the grade nine pupils.

“As we speak, 11, 000 classrooms are in various levels of completion countrywide. We are working with Members of Parliament and NG-CDF to support us with 5, 000 classrooms,” he said.

He reported that the ministry had allocated an extra Sh1 billion for schools in Nairobi County because of their unique challenges.

On the curriculum, the PS reported that the Kenya Institute for Curriculum Development (KICD) had prepared and finalized the required books for grade nine.

“Between October and November, our schools will start receiving books that will be used by the grade nine pupils. The books will be given at a ratio of 1 is to 1,” he underscored.

At the same time, he said, the government will recruit an additional 20, 000 teachers for junior secondary so as to make the transition from grade eight to nine very smooth.

“Already we have recruited 56, 000 teachers for junior secondary in the last one and half years. This is the highest number of teachers to be recruited at once in the country,” he said.

He said a pilot assessment for grade nine was conducted in July to prepare the pupils for the kind of assessment they will do in grade nine.

“In November, while running our normal examination, we shall run another pilot which is a replica of the exam we will do in grade nine so that the teachers and pupils will be able to prepare adequately for grade nine national examination,”, said Dr.Kipsang.

On school capitation, PS Kipsang said his ministry worked closely with the treasury to release Sh 21. 8 billion for capitation, where Sh6 billion will be used for junior schools, Sh14 billion for secondary schools and Sh1.8 billion for primary schools.