Grade 9 classrooms: Top Ministry of Education officials to blame for shoddy constructions

Top Ministry of Education officials are on the spot for mismanagement of donor-funded classroom projects in primary and secondary schools.

A new audit on the schools’ classroom projects has cast doubt taxpayers got value for money for the Sh6.7 billion spent by the ministry on the construction works.

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Auditor General Nancy Gathungu has in a review of the World Bank-funded project’s accounts cited the managers for breaking the law.

“Full value for money may not have been realised from expenditure on the construction contracts valued at Sh6,655,812,555,” she said.

Ms Gathungu has, in the recently released review, questioned a spending of Sh60 million on consultants supervising the works in the Secondary Education Quality Improvement Project.

A site visit of the projects has shown that indeed a shoddy job was done. Auditors have established that projects under the extended contracts remained incomplete as of the end of the financial year while the performance bonds for the contracts had expired without renewal.

This comes even as the Ministry of Education insists that completion of the earmarked 16,000 classrooms countrywide is at 93 percent.

Education Cabinet Secretary Julius Migosi Ogamba has urged schools to find alternative classrooms for the grade 9 learners to ensure there is no disruption to learning activities.

“In the few instances where part of the construction works have not been fully finalised, our field officers and heads of institutions are under instruction to effect temporary measures to ensure that all learners are accommodated. The measures will include using alternative spaces within the school and merging streams where class sizes allow.” CS Ogamba advises.

CS Ogamba’s sentiments were echoed by the Principal Secretary (PS) for the State Department of Basic Education, Dr. Belio Kipsang, who reported that the government has so far constructed 13,200 classrooms against a target of 16,000.

According to Kipsang, out of these, 3,100 classrooms were built through the National Government-Constituency Development Fund (NG-CDF), while the Ministry of Education completed 10,100.

“There are approximately 2,800 classrooms still under various stages of construction. There will also be a few schools where the enrolment was low, but they still need a classroom,” Dr. Kipsang explained.

He noted that the Ministry had set a goal of 11,000 classrooms, expected to be ready before schools open, while the NG-CDF aimed to build 6,800 classrooms.

“We are pushing CDF; for them, they have a different process in terms of approval before they start off the work,” he stated.

𝐂𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐫𝐨𝐨𝐦𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐝𝐞 𝟗 𝐢𝐧 𝐌𝐮𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐠’𝐚 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐭𝐞

Elsewhere, Construction of classrooms to host grade 9 Junior Secondary School learners in Murang’a is complete, the County Director of Education Ms. Ann Kiilu has confirmed.

Speaking on Friday when she commissioned four grade 9 classrooms at Technology Primary school the Director revealed that in phase one, the county was allocated 82 classrooms which already have been completed.

She added another that 172 classrooms which the county got in phase two are at 95 percent complete, assuring that come early next week when the learners will resume studies for term one, all classrooms will be ready for occupation.

“The remaining few classrooms are at the final stages and the contractors are currently doing finishes to ensure that when students resume their studies, the facilities will be ready for use,” she said.

Ms Kiilu added that in phase three, the county is allocated 30 classrooms which will be constructed from mid this month.

“All public primary schools will get a classroom and for now priority was given to schools with big enrolment for grade 9 and which did not have free classrooms,” she added.

The government, she revealed, has also equipped the classrooms with lockers from funds allocated for schools’ renovation, maintenance and improvement kitty.

“No parent is supposed to buy a locker as all classrooms have been equipped with the facilities. Books for grade 9 have also been distributed to all schools hosting junior secondary schools and I assure you that Murang’a is ready to roll out grade 9 come next week.” Remarked the director.

A total of 23, 018 learners in the county are expected to transit to grade 9 with Kiilu assuring more teachers have been deployed to handle the extra class.

“We thank the parents who have supported the classrooms project as this has ensured the classrooms were completed in time,” she noted.

Head teacher of the Technology primary school Ms. Beatrice Wachira lauded the government for enabling her school to get four new classrooms for grade 9.

“We have 168 students in this school who are joining grade nine and our parents have also supported us as they have done the foundation of the classrooms to complement the money we got from the ministry of education.

“The foundation was done in a way that we can do storey building in future for more classrooms. Our school has also received books both textbooks and exercise books for our learners.” She added.

Free Textbooks for learners

In terms of learning resources, Ogamba reports that 9,926,618 textbooks have been dispatched to schools countrywide.

The CS also notes that the Government, through the Teachers Service Commission, has employed a total of 76,928 teachers. Of these, 56,928 are on permanent and pensionable terms while 20,000 are intern teachers.