The Competence Based Curriculum (CBC) Infrastructure Development programme has kicked off in Kirinyaga with the government setting aside Sh149 million to construct 189 classrooms to be spread across the county.
The County Commissioner Jim Njoka speaking during a meeting over the CBC programme Monday said Kirinyaga East Sub County has been allocated the highest number of classrooms at 52, followed by Kirinyaga Central 49, Kirinyaga West 39, Mwea East 27 and Mwea West 22, expected to be ready by April 2022.
Njoka said the implementation of the programme follows the presidential pronouncement on October 20 that 10,000 classrooms be put in readiness for Junior Secondary classes come 2023.
The county commissioner said the infrastructure programme is targeted to upscale the current infrastructure in selected secondary schools by providing additional classrooms.
“A multi-agency taskforce has been put in place to coordinate the implementation of the programme and ensure effective and timely completion of the programme,” Njoka said
The role of the school administration will be to identify sites for classroom construction, besides supporting and ensuring successful implementation by supervising the works on a daily basis, he added.
The county commissioner said the programme also encompasses the economic stimulus packaging in that all the construction work is to be undertaken by the local contractors.
“Our administrators including chiefs and their assistants have been very instrumental in the identification of the local contractors,” he said, adding that the local administrators would also be deployed to supervise the construction and ensure the work is done on time.
Njoka said much of the work is under the sub county level and therefore the role of the county committee will be to oversee the sub county technical committee to make sure classes are in place by April 2022.
“The work must be of very high quality and only contractors with registration certificates will be considered for the programme,” he reiterated.
At the same time, the county commissioner advised contractors who may not be registered to do so in order to benefit from the funding as it is also meant to boost the local economy.
“It takes only two days for one to get a certificate and therefore nobody should be locked out because of non-compliance,” Njoka said, adding that it is also a requirement that the contractors demonstrate capacity of up to 50% of the cost of the project, which will be paid in phases as agreed.
The county commissioner said schools with existing storey blocks can go ahead and add CBC classrooms but with proper branding.
He said unlike other government programmes, there is no down payment for the work and those engaged will receive their payment via Mpesa directly from the headquarters.
Njoka said out of 149 schools in Kirinyaga only 20 were left out of the programme. The identification of schools was based on infrastructure deficit.