It was all smiles as Early Childhood Development (ECD) children across the eight sub counties of Homa Bay yesterday received 163 newly built classrooms.

The classrooms which are fully equipped with modern facilities were constructed at a cost of Sh1.6 million through a Rapid Results Initiative (RRI) programme dubbed Ondoa Kaunda.

Governor Gladys Wanga who spoke in Asumbi Mixed Comprehensive School after the handover ceremony said her aim is to promote quality education so that learners can study in a clean and dignified environment that upholds their right to quality education.

‘The foundation of our children’s future lies in the quality of education they receive in their early years at school,’ she said.

Launched on July 10 at God Ndonyo in Kibiri Ward, Ondoa Kaunda is an economic stimulus programme that embraces labour-based approach and not the conventional contracting approach.

‘We sent money to all the 163 schools and the locals ran the programme themselves. They managed it locally using the local
labour and the local hardware and completed it within the stipulated period of 100 days,’ she implied.

Before the year 2022, there were only 20 dilapidated ECD classrooms across the county but Wanga said it was after witnessing the sorry state of the learning facilities that her administration initiated the Ondoa Kaunda programme to provide the young children with quality and modern classes.

Within the two years after her ascent to power, the governor has established a total of 243 classrooms all over the county with plans to construct 257 more by the end of her five years in the office.

Source: Kenya News Agency