Grade 9 learners confront teacher's shortage and crowded classrooms

Junior Secondary School heads are in a dilemma due to limited space, lack of equipment, and teacher shortage as Grade 9 reported for term one.

A spot check revealed chaos in some schools, such as Ronald Ngala Primary in Mombasa, where a classroom had a population of over 60 learners.

Other schools have turned multi-purpose halls, libraries, and computer laboratories to be classrooms to cope with the numbers.

In some areas, private schools were better prepared for Grade 9 learners than the public institutions and classes were in progress.

In Mombasa’s biggest Junior Secondary, Kongowea JSS, Grade 9 were forced to occupy classrooms meant for the primary section.

The classrooms meant for JSS have no roofs as they have been removed to undergo repairs while admission for Grade 9 was still ongoing.

But Ronald Ngala JSS, a public school, teachers said they had no problem with classrooms yesterday.

Principal Paul Mutinda confirmed Grade 9 learners have begun learning as the school has enough infrastructure and teachers.

“We have seven teachers for JSS who are already teaching all subjects for Grade 9 and most of them are permanent and pensionable teachers, while only one is employed by the board of management,” he said.

At Paramount Centre, a private school, the director John Kombo confirmed that Grade 9 classrooms are already learning as they had the classrooms, teachers, and learning materials in place.

Several Grade 9 learners in the South Rift region are using multi-purpose halls, libraries, and computer laboratories as classrooms.

The Standard has established that most of the JSS classrooms for Grade 9 learners that were to be completed by the end of last year are incomplete.

The Ministry of Education issued a directive to principals to accommodate the learners in classrooms that were to be occupied by students who were to join Form One. There will be no Form One students this time around.

Nakuru County Director of Education Victoria Mulili said no learner has been disadvantaged as those who cannot fit in the constructed classrooms have been moved to temporary structures.

Ms Mulili said Nakuru completed 182 classrooms in Phase One and 354 classrooms, which are 96 percent completed, to host JSS students.

She said Grade 8 and 7 students have spaces in the constructed classrooms while some learners from Grade 1 have to wait for the completion of Phase 3- 187 classrooms and Phase 4- 190 classrooms.

“The county is ready to receive learners on Monday. Despite challenges, we will use unoccupied Form One classes to temporarily host some students,” she said.

She said the procurement steps have been completed and the classrooms are well equipped.

Mulili added that several meetings have been held with school headteachers and the ministry to ensure all compliance.

Headteachers in public schools have been gagged by the ministry and warned not to address the media about the progress as they have no authority.

The Standard visited private schools, among them Roots Academy JSS, to see how the students have been accommodated.

Mr Alfred Kyalo, the Roots Academy deputy head teacher, said the school has 34 completed classrooms to host Grades 7, 8, and 9. The team counted 34 plus classrooms some of them under construction.

“The classrooms under construction will host Grade 7 students who will report on January 13 while the others will host Grade 8 and 9, expected to report tomorrow,” said Kyalo.

He said the classes were spacious, and each had a capacity of 30 to 35 students.

Kyalo said Grade 8 classrooms will host between 350 to 400 students, while Grade 9 will host at least 400 learners.

“We have taken in students, and we have employed qualified and enough staff to assist the students,” he said.

In Bomet County, some schools could not accommodate Grade 9 learners, as classrooms were under construction.

While the construction of classrooms for the pioneer learners was underway in some schools, others were complete.

County Director of Education, Mr Leonard Ngugi, said the county has 301 approved JSS with 295 publics and six private schools and has admitted learners.

“Even though construction in some is underway while others have been completed, I can assure you that they are ready to accommodate the learners, “Ngugi said.

He said the Ministry is doing everything possible to ensure the schools behind schedule are completed.

KUPPET branch secretary Paul Kimetto said Grade 9 learners should have been domiciled in high schools as there are enough facilities.

He said there are no facilities ready for use in JSS by Grade 9 learners in the region and they do not have laboratories as well.

Kimetto noted that head teachers have expressed concern that resources, including desks, chairs, sanitation facilities, and laboratories, are not available.

The National Parents Association (NPA) said that Grade 9 classrooms are incomplete and ill-equipped in most schools across the country.

NPA Secretary-General Mr Eskimos Kobia told the Standard that nearly all public schools had accruing debts due to the delayed capitation fees.

Speaking in Naivasha yesterday, Kobia warned of a looming crisis in the education sector noting that this could erode gains made over the years.

This came as it emerged that the government did not fully release last year’s capitation fee, leaving the schools with unpaid debts running into millions of shillings.

He claimed that hundreds of workers, including teachers employed by the schools and suppliers, had not been paid for two months, further worsening the situation.

Kobia said public schools did not have funds to buy the necessary learning materials and food despite assurances by the government that the funds had been released.

“As schools’ report for the first term, there are fears of a crisis as the government is yet to release the capitation fees which has now become the norm every term,” he said.

Kobia was, however, quick to laud the State over the construction of classrooms for students joining Grade 9 saying there was progress.

He noted that the association had visited various schools where the construction of the classes was either complete or in the last stages.

“Many of the schools, however, do not have desks and seats and it will be upon the parents to chip in and assist in buying these,” he said.

A head teacher from one of the public schools warned that learning activities could be paralyzed in the coming days due to a lack of funds.

The principal who declined to be named said that they had not received the capitation fees as the first term kicked off.

In Migori County, Grade 9 learners had already reported by Tuesday last week.

At Migori JSS, more than 450 learners were learning in their newly built Grade 9 classrooms, which were completed during the school holiday.

However, said it needed more teachers to serve the large number of learners in JSS.

“We need 20 more teachers in Junior Secondary,” said school head Mr Moses Maranda.

Muslim Comprehensive School also had eight classrooms for Grade 9 that were constructed by the government.

Grade 9 learners had also settled for classes at Kadika and Kilimanjaro comprehensive schools in the Suna East sub-county.

Report by Willis Oketch, Daniel Chege, Kiprono Kurgat and Antony Gitonga and Anne Otieno