Concerns mount over Grade 9 transition as schools prepare to reopen

With just two weeks before the 2025 school calendar begins, education stakeholders and parents alike are raising the red flag over the level of preparedness by the government on the Grade 9 transition.

The Elimu Yetu Coalition is questioning the feasibility of completing the construction of 16,000 new classrooms to accommodate the 1.5 million learners, as well as the availability of enough teachers to handle the new class.

"We are not sure whether the classes will be completed by then so therefore the transition will probably not be a smooth one," Elimu Yetu National Coordinator Joseph Wasikhongo

The concerns come days after the government allayed fears over Grade 9 transition, saying it has set aside Ksh.11 billion for the construction of classrooms and that there will be little or no hiccups as the pioneer cohort of CBC learners transitions.

But it’s not just the transition to Grade 9 that is of concern. The stakeholders are also putting the Ministry of Education on the spot over what they say are frequent interruptions of learning due to delays in the release of capitation. They claim the delay has led to extortion of parents by some of the headteachers.

"The release of capitation remains a challenge in schools and creates a nightmare in terms of management of institutions. We therefore reiterate a call we have made over and over again to the government: the timely disbursement," said Wasikhongo.

"The issue of sending children for these illicit levies – I call them illicit because they are not legal levies by the government – is making our children not cover the whole syllabus in the morning, even for one week," Elimu Yetu Coalition Hama Bay Rep, Julius Omogo, added.

The inequality in the education sector was also highlighted, with stakeholders calling on the government to focus more on infrastructure and human resources especially in the remote areas.

"Our appeal to the government is to recruit more JSS teachers and deploy them according to subject combinations for Grade 9 schools. These schools need to be equipped with the guidelines for transition. As it is at the moment, most of the schools are not ready," Wasikhongo said.

"We have 365 primary schools across Mandera County. Of course, there are some at the centre of the county and sub-county connectivity, but the majority of them across the county lack connectivity. Most pastoralist children cross the border to Ethiopia and Somalia during the drought season and miss school. So that’s a challenge. Actually, we need to have mobile schools across Mandera," added Mohamed Sheikh - Executive Director, Action for Sustainable Change.

The stakeholders also want the government to take action against head teachers who are overcharging parents through school fees.