Bungoma County Kenya Union of Post Primary Education Teachers (KUPPET) Treasurer Rebecca Masibayi is calling on the County government of Bungoma to partner with education stakeholders to review the Girl Child Advocacy Initiative.
Speaking at a funeral on Monday April 19, Masibayi said that there are notable discrepancies in the analysis of the KCPE results for the County released last week by the Education Cabinet Secretary, Prof. George Magoha, that shows an obvious gender gap when it comes to girls’ education.
According to Masibayi, the view that a lot of attention has been given to girls at the expense of the boy child should not arise considering that girls still have a long way to come to par with boys as seen in the KCPE results.
“As we delve into the realities of these results in Bungoma County there is need for both government and education stakeholders to come together and see possible ways of making the situation better,” she said
She pointed there was no single girl from Bungoma private schools among the top 100 students nationally adding that public primary schools which have bigger student population posted better results compared to private schools.
She emphasized the need to relook at the challenges facing the girl child especially those in public schools including the high rate of school absenteeism caused by lack of sanitary towels, early pregnancies, juggling between home chores and concentrating on academic work among others.
She noted that most public schools across the County are still faced by infrastructure challenges creating not so conductive learning environment for both teachers and learners, poor teacher to student ratio and lack of motivation among teachers hence poor performance.
By Enoch Sitati and Roseland Lumwamu
