The government is making significant efforts to ensure that the transition to Grade 9 for the first cohort of CBC learners is as smooth as possible by January 2025. This will mark the final year of junior school for these ninth graders, but there are growing concerns about the government’s readiness to facilitate this change.
Parents and education stakeholders have raised questions about the feasibility of completing the construction of 16,000 new classrooms to accommodate the 1.5 million learners and whether there will be enough teachers to handle the new class. Despite these concerns, it appears that the government is working diligently to overcome these challenges with just three months left before the transition.
On October 1, the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) announced the online recruitment of 39,550 teachers for junior schools, specifically targeting those already registered with the commission. “Serving interns are expected to apply in their current counties/sub-counties/work stations [and] will only be required to present their identification cards during the verification process,” the advertisement stated.
The application deadline is set for October 7, and the commission has warned teachers to be cautious of fraudsters who may attempt to extort money under the guise of helping them with the recruitment process. However, on Thursday, October 3, the TSC reported that the recruitment portal experienced a technical issue, hindering the recruitment exercise. The error message displayed to applicants was, “Sorry, the page you’re looking for is currently unavailable. Please try again later.”
In response to this setback, TSC apologized for the inconvenience and requested patience as they worked to restore the portal as quickly as possible. Applicants have urged the commission to resolve the technical issues promptly and extend the application deadline.
Meanwhile, the government has reassured the public that the construction of the 16,000 new classrooms for Grade 9 learners is progressing well. Education CS Julius Ogamba is actively inspecting the progress made thus far. However, these classrooms are still far fewer than the over 32,000 classrooms and laboratories needed across more than 23,000 primary schools to accommodate the 1.5 million Grade 9 learners. Subjects requiring practical learning, such as pre-technical science, health education, agriculture, home science, and integrated science, will necessitate proper laboratory facilities.
Some stakeholders have proposed that the first cohort of CBC learners be housed in secondary schools, utilizing facilities that would have otherwise been designated for Form 1 students. Since the 2023 KCPE class was the last to take the exam under the 8-4-4 system, there will be no Form 1 learners in secondary schools in 2025, as the current Form 1 students will have advanced to Form 2.
Bumula MP Jack Wamboka expressed concerns in Parliament, stating, “We have a situation where classrooms will be vacant, but we are struggling to accommodate these students in primary schools where we don’t have classrooms and other infrastructure. We have three months to think about how these children are going to get through. Can we build enough classrooms in that time? Let the government change course and put these children in secondary schools.”
Echoing this sentiment, Kabondo Kasipul MP Eva Obara added, “Let the government change course and put these children in secondary schools.”
During a recent parliamentary debate on an adjournment motion to discuss the government’s preparedness for the Grade 9 transition, some MPs suggested that all 46,000 intern teachers be hired and trained in time before January to prevent possible chaos.
However, as the government races against time to establish the necessary facilities and the TSC rolls out a teacher hiring exercise, concerns about the training of teachers to effectively teach technical subjects, such as health education, persist. The technical challenges encountered by the TSC recruitment portal, which hindered the hiring process for the 39,550 junior school teachers, have only heightened worries that the transition to Grade 9 could be disorganized.
