School where Grade Seven learners sit on the floor
By Reuben.Mwambingu, February 13, 2023Beyond the magnificent walls of ultramodern Khadija Primary School in Mombasa, is a tale of misery as some 400 Junior Secondary School (JSS) learners are forced to sit on the floor due to lack of furniture.
Defined by elegant state-of-the- art structures, the school which was funded by Kenya Primary and Secondary Education Programme in Poor Urban Areas of Kenya, a development initiative between the Government of Kenya and the Federal Republic of Germany under the German-Kenyan Financial Cooperation, qualified as among the 11 public schools in Nyali sub-county that qualified to host Junior Secondary school.
Since its completion, the Sh325 million school has continued to attract learners in huge numbers.
But with the ongoing transition to JSS continuing to expose the underlying pitfalls in the implementation of the Competence Based Curriculum (CBC), it has emerged that lack of furniture is proving a daunting task in most schools.
300 learners
Nyali Sub County Director of Education Maimuna Ahmed Omar confirmed that all the Grade seven learners in Khadija Primary “have been sitting on the floor.”
“When the school was completed, they had an extra six classrooms which were unutilized… With the coming of JSS the classes are now being used for Grade Seven but there is no furniture. All the learners are sitting on the floor. So if we can get a well-wisher to assist, it will be highly appreciated,” explained Omar in an exclusive interview with People Daily.
A neighbouring school, Kongowea Primary School, has so far received over 300 grade seven learners who have been distributed in four JSS streams, each with an average of 75 students per class.
Overwhelmed
The school has so far been allocated five JSS teachers to handle the more than 300 students.
“So far we have enrolled 300 students and more are coming. As you can see parents are queuing to have their children enrolled. This has been the case since we started. Because of the large population around public schools cannot accommodate the numbers of learners. Most of the learners are from local private schools and that is why we are being overwhelmed,” explained a teacher at the school.
According to Omar, out of 79 private schools in Nyali Sub County, less than 30 were approved to host Junior secondary.
For than reason, most of the learners from private schools have flocked to public schools.
“Right now all the public schools hosting JSS are full. There is no space remaining,” explained the director, adding that so far Nyali Sub County is at 72 per cent transition.
Regarding textbooks, Omar said the first batch of textbooks arrived on Wednesday and were deposited at Khadija Primary School.
A spot check by People Daily established that most schools had started receiving textbooks, albeit in bits.