Narok County Governor Patrick Ntutu has reiterated that all schools in the remote area of Mosiro ward will be elevated to boarding schools so as to contain children in school.
Governor Ntutu, who spoke while commissioning two dormitories and a dining hall at Enoomparbali primary school, said the initiative would improve the learning experiences of the children who walk long distances to get to school.
“We are in discussion with the Department of Education to see how we can convert all schools in this ward to be boarding schools to give the learners a conducive environment to learn and compete with other learners from other areas,” he said.
Ntutu noted that many children would miss school because of wild animals that loiter in the bushy area looking for food and water, hence compromising their performance in national examinations.
He said the boarding schools would also help to fight retrogressive practices like Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), early marriages, teenage pregnancies, and child labour as the children would be contained in school.
“Sometime we blame our children for not performing well in national examinations, but we do not sit back to look at their learning environment. We need to up our game by creating boarding facilities in all schools that will allow children in the upper school to board,” he said.
Governor Ntutu asked parents to take care of their children during holiday seasons to minimise cases of teenage pregnancies and early marriages that were common during holidays.
He committed to collaborate with the Department of Education to provide a school feeding programme to schools in the remote ward, as many families strived to place a plate of food on the table during dry seasons.
The Kenya Demographic Health Survey (KDHS) ranked Narok County in position four in teenage pregnancy at 27 per cent. This was an improvement from the previous survey, which had ranked the county in one at 40 per cent.
Meanwhile, the county government launched 25 projects in the ward built at a cost of Sh100 million. The projects included six water dams, six maternity wings, Early Childhood Development Education (ECDE) classrooms, dormitories, and dining halls.
By Ann Salaton
