The County Government of Kirinyaga has constructed 18 new Early Childhood Development and Education (ECDE) classrooms and renovated 59 others.
Governor Anne Waiguru made the announcement and said the classrooms that have been built through the county’s department of education are aimed at creating conducive teaching and learning environment for the county’s young learners.
In addition, new Sub county ECDE Officer for Kirinyaga West as well as 10 additional ECDE teachers have been hired bringing to a total of 444 the number of ECDE teachers in the county. Currently, Kirinyaga has 198 ECDE centers with a total of 18,747 pupils comprising of 9,427 boys and 9,520 girls. The governor noted that the additional teachers were an effort to improve the teacher to pupil ratio.
Boost performance
Some of the successfully implemented ECDE centers projects include Kiumbu, Mathangauta, Nyamindi, Gikumbo, Kiorugari, Kagondo, Kithiriti and Kutus. The new classrooms have not only boosted the morale among teachers and pupils but has reflected on the performance of the young learners with noted difference in quality of the pupils transiting to primary school. It has also seen to increase of enrollment in the centers as some parents who would previously enroll their children in private centers are now settling for the refurbished public ones.
Margaret Karanja, a teacher in Mathangauta ECDE center says that before the new classroom project, her pupils used to be housed in a classroom at the nearby Mathangauta Secondary School, but they are now happy to have their own classroom. She said that project has boosted the morale among her learners and thanked the County Government for the initiative.
Before construction of classrooms in the benefiting centers, pupils were learning in makeshift iron sheet structures or sharing classrooms leading to overcrowding. Others were housed by secondary schools or even nearby churches.
