The Government of Kenya has launched a nationwide school census for basic education institutions in Kenya.
According to the Economic Planning Principal Secretary James Muhati, the Census will take 50 days with a budget of Ksh300 million on counting schools, learners, teachers and desks.
“The budget is approximated to be about Ksh300 million for a period of 50 days for this exercise,” said Ps, James Muhati.
However, Basic Education Principal Secretary Belio Kipsang said the ministry knows its numbers, but it is seeking to verify them through the census.
“We are confirming the figures that are there, in terms of checking our school registers, checking number of teachers, infrastructure. It is quite a comprehensive exercise,” he said.
School Census by KNBS
Speaking at Moi Girls Nairobi, Kipsang said numerators from Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) will be stepping into learning institutions with their tools in search for the real number of students and all schools in under the basic education sector in the country.
“When you deal with statistics, it’s not only about the number of students and teachers who are in school, we need to know how many books are in our schools,” Kipsang said.
Also Read: County Leaders ; Residents Clear Air Over Claims of Ghost Schools in Baringo
“The census is so detailed, it is about the number of learners and even as we go into the numbers, we would want to see how many of our children are special needs, how many are talented,” he added.
This will be the second Basic Education School Census after the first one which was done in 2007.
Target For Census
The survey will also investigate the number of desks in classrooms, and the book ratio per learner.
“As we said we have a one-to-one ratio. Do we have adequate books in our schools? Do we have adequate teachers and within the teachers the subject they teach? When we say we have 400,000 teachers, what do they teach?” Kipsang said.
Also Read: Schools Closed After Storm IALY Hit Kenyan Coast
Additionally, Muhati said the exercise is being conducted in up to 80,000 schools.
He also noted that the counting will involve 670 enumerators across all 47 counties.
The ministry assured the country that the plans to transition to grade 9 of the Kenyan Competency-based Curriculum (CBC) system of education are underway.
The ministry is also seeking to construct 16000 new classrooms to accommodate the current grade 8 learners next year.
Follow our WhatsApp Channel for real-time news updates.
https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029VaB3k54HltYFiQ1f2i2C
