Education CS Prof George Magoha has said the government is fully prepared for the transition of learners from Primary school to Junior Secondary School.
Magoha noted that over 330,000 teachers have already been trained to ensure a smooth roll-out of the curriculum.
The Teachers Service Commission (TSC) will train 60,000 secondary school teachers to handle junior secondary in March and April this year.
Prof Magoha further noted that they are on course to finishing the first phase of junior secondary schools before the start of national exams next month.
“The Ministry of Education will roll out the second phase of construction of the classrooms in April, immediately after the national exams,” he said.
He said about 1,000 classrooms constructed under the infrastructure development programme, which was launched last October, have been completed, while another 2,000 are at the roofing level, with construction of only 50 yet to start.
The CS said the government has released Sh3.2 billion for the payment of completed Competence-Based Curriculum (CBC) classrooms across the country.
Magoha said the funds will be dispatched directly to M-Pesa accounts of the contractors as a way of ensuring transparency.
“This is a warning to some Ministry of Education officials, who may want to put some bottlenecks, that stern action will be taken against them,” he said yesterday in Siaya.
Speaking at Aluor Girl’s and Ramba Boy’s High schools in Siaya County where he assessed the building of CBC classrooms, he claimed the payment process of those who had finished should not take more than three days once the correct papers are brought to the ministry.
“If officials bring papers which are not correct, the ministry will start acting as from next week because we do not want rogues and crooks in our system. This is because there are very clear guidelines on what one has to do to ensure the papers are ready for payment,” said Magoha.
He added: “Can our offices ensure they double check the documents before bringing them to Jogoo House because this money does not have any percentage for anybody since it is all going to the vendor. Our President, Uhuru Kenyatta has ensured there is liquid money waiting to be used to pay those who have completed the classrooms.”
The CS asked officials in his ministry including the regional directors of education, regional commissioners and others that incase of any hitches they should consult him directly.
“I will swiftly ensure the roadblock is removed. This is because we are constructing these classrooms at Sh788,000 and the Sh200,000 or Sh300,000 profit is meant for the local contractor or vendor. There is no money for anybody else to eat, whether you are a public works officer or any official of the ministry,” said Magoha.
The programme was initiated by the government to create space for students who will be joining junior secondary schools in January next year.
Under the new curriculum, learners will spend two years in pre-primary, six years in primary, three years in junior secondary, three years in senior secondary and at least three years at the higher education level (2:6:3:3:3).
Prof Magoha said the government has already delivered 75 per cent of textbooks to secondary schools and the remaining ones will be distributed by month-end.
The CS also revealed that the process of purchasing books for grades s ix and seven is ongoing.