Magoha Encourages Parents To Enrol Children In Day Schools
Education Cabinet Secretary George Magoha has advocated for day schools and urged contractors to complete junior secondary school classroom construction on time.
Prof Magoha stated after commissioning new junior secondary school classes at Kariobangi North Girls High School in Nairobi that the new level of education is geared toward a day school setting rather than boarding.
“We will have only three streams for junior secondary school, meaning we are encouraging people to send their children to day schools,” said Magoha.
He stated that the government is constructing classrooms in every school to ensure complete fairness, equity, and accessibility.
“Most of the children will therefore be day scholars. If I had a grandchild going to junior secondary school, I would want to be with that child for another extra year,” said Magoha.
He stated that the rush to boarding secondary schools will be postponed until Grade Nine.
When the transition to junior secondary schools is implemented, the Competency-Based Curriculum (CBC) taskforce report advocates for day schools.
The government is spending Sh788,000 on junior high classrooms, which are expected to be completed in three to four weeks.
“Secondary Quality Improvement Programme (SEQIP) ones cost Sh1.26 million. And despite construction starting eight weeks earlier than the junior high ones, not a single one is complete,” said Magoha.
The CS expressed his displeasure with the rate at which new classrooms were being built, warning slacker contractors of dire consequences.
“They should be warned this time round they’re not going to steal Kenyans’ money. They think they will take advantage of the political transition and steal money. That will not happen under my watch,” he said.
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So far, only 50 of the 3,500 classrooms planned for construction have been completed, according to Magoha.
He did, however, warn that schools without a lab will not be registered by his ministry.
“Let’s not make CBC look like a hoax where you retain children but have no lab for them. A standard lab costs less than 1.5 million.
"Primary schools can even convert one of their empty classes to a lab, which will reduce costs,” he said.
Magoha Encourages Parents To Enrol Children In Day Schools