16 primary schools in Thika West Sub-County will benefit from the Work Bank's Sh80 billion Kenya Primary Education Development initiative, Thika West Sub-county Education Officer John Ndundu has said.
Ndundu, who was speaking during an Education stakeholders meeting at Destiny Church hall in Thika town on Wednesday said that seven primary schools located within Thika town will benefit in the first piloting phase.
The seven include Thika Muslim, Karibaribi, Kasiwa, Athena, Garissa Road, Umoja and Jamhuri Primary Schools.
"The grant by the World Bank will go towards addressing the key challenges facing the provision of Primary Education in Kenya. Here in Thika West we are glad we have a total of 16 schools with all the seven schools in the former Thika municipality having been selected for the project," said Ndundu.
Ndundu said that the selection of the seven schools in the former municipality was in line with one of Global Partnership on Education (GPE) goals to target resources to schools in urban poor settlements.
"The project will run till 2018 and by the end of this period we shall have made a big difference in as far as provision of free primary education in Kenya is concerned," he added.
Ndundu noted that 94 schools in Kiambu County are targeted in the first piloting phase. Those who attended included Thika Branch KNUT Secretary Joe Mungai, Thika West Assistant DCC Jane Chabira, headteachers from the seven primary schools and parents representatives of the schools among other stakeholders.