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{
    "id": 1472555,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1472555/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 251,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Kathiani, WDM",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Robert Mbui",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": " Hon. Temporary Speaker, pursuant to Standing Order 33(1)(c), I rise to move this Motion of Adjournment of the House for the purpose of discussing a matter of definite urgent national importance regarding the implementation of the Competency Based Curriculum (CBC) student transition. I want to, first, thank the Speaker for allowing debate on this Motion, and also the House for supporting it so that we can address this matter. As enactment of the CBC continues, the pioneer CBC class is expected to transition to Grade 9 commencing in January 2025. However, this transition has caused increased apprehension amongst parents and widespread concern on the preparedness of the education sector with regard to the transition. Of importance in this matter is infrastructure which was initially meant to be lodged within secondary schools. However, when the new regime came into office, his Excellency the President came up with a Presidential Working Party on Education Reforms which recommended that this transition remain in primary schools. Junior secondary schools are domiciled in primary schools. Additionally, the practicality of putting up classrooms and other facilities like laboratories by December 2024 before the start of Grade 9 lessons in January 2025 is in doubt. At present, the transition is also marred by shortage of junior secondary teachers, who are crucial for the success of this programme. It is against this background that I want to encourage the House to discuss this matter with a view to exploring possible solutions and advising the key players, stakeholders and the country at large on what we need to do within the remaining period before these children end up in that position. The Grade 8 students who are going to Grade 9 next year are the pioneer CBC class. If you remember, when these children moved from Grade 6 to Grade 7, they did an entry exam. Not all schools were equipped to implement the CBC. Some of these children had to travel for many kilometres because only a few schools were allowed to provide junior secondary school education while others were not. In my constituency, five to six schools were feeding into one school. There was serious congestion and that is what we are worried about. We want to ensure that we do not fall into that trap. The fact of the matter is that in January 2025, almost 1.5 million students currently in Grade 8 will be transitioning to Grade 9 in over 32,000 primary schools in Kenya. That is only three-and-a-half months away. Is the Ministry of Education prepared for that transition? It is the reason I have seen it important for this House to discuss this matter. What do we require? We require 32,469 classrooms, and that is on the assumption that every school requires only one class. There are schools with three to five streams each, and so we require almost 60,000 classrooms. Do we have the classes, Hon. Temporary Speaker? If we do not, what are we going to do so that we can have them in the next three-and-a-half months?"
}