Coast Regional Commissioner (RC) John Elungata has asked chiefs in the region to follow up on the enrollment of local children to secondary schools.
Elungata has decried the low form one transition saying chiefs should play a critical role in helping the Ministry of Education achieve its 100 per cent transition policy in the country. The Coast region is at 63 per cent in form one transition.
He said the local administrators should stand firm on the issue of education, noting that children have a right to basic education regardless of the economic status of their parents.
Speaking during a stakeholder’s forum at Wakala Girls Secondary School in Kilifi North Sub-county of Kilifi County, Elungata directed the grassroots administrators to ensure that all form one students have reported to school by Mid-October.
The administrator said that, in Wakala Girls only 16 form- one-girls had reported and 34 girls could not be accounted for.
The RC said the government was doing everything to provide the necessary infrastructure that would help learners acquire basic education and asked parents to make sure that their children report to school even if they lack school uniform.
He directed chiefs to comb up their area of jurisdiction and smoke out the form-ones who have not reported to school in two weeks’ time.
On Monday, Education Cabinet Secretary Professor George Magoha led a mop-up exercise in Mombasa and Kwale Counties to trace all the form -ones who had not yet reported to school.
The CS went from one homestead to another in search of the candidates and managed to trace two needy pupils from Bangladesh in Jomvu Constituency who had not yet reported to school due to lack of fees.
To the candidates who had lost hope in learning, the CS’s visit was a relief to them as he personally visited their homestead and promised that the government will fully sponsor their education.
So far the government has sponsored 9,000 learners in the Elimu Scholarship Programme.
Prof. Magoha directed that all children should go to school as the government is issuing scholarships to the needy students, he said even those who have delivered or pregnant should not be left out.
Magoha announced that the government has allocated Sh.240 Million to cater for food relief to schools that are affected by drought and lack of water countrywide. Some of the areas affected are the Kilifi and Kwale counties.
At the same time, Elungata decried rampant teenage pregnancies which he said not only disrupt young girls’ quest for education, but also pose serious physical and psycho-social health challenges to the young girls.
The Coast Region administrator has asked the courts to give the maximum jail sentence to any man identified by teenage pregnancy victims as having impregnated them and asked the young mothers after giving birth to go back to school and continue with their education.
“Let us assist these children get education which remains the key to national development,” he said adding that the government was doing everything possible to provide the necessary school infrastructure that would help the learners acquire basic education.
By Chari Suche
