Private schools in Mandera put on notice

Private schools in Mandera County have been put on notice over low quality of education they were offering.
The newly appointed county education board chairman Issack Giro, while speaking during the official inauguration of the board members Friday,said some of private schools in the area were hiring untrained teachers.
Giro accused private primary schools of lowering education standards in the region, culminating to poor grades in national examinations.
“Some private schools are hiring carpenters, masons and other unqualified staff to the detriment of our children, we are going to profile such institutions and those who will not conform to set standards will be closed down,” he warned.
Subsequently, the institutions have been given a one month grace period to conform to the ministry of education set standards on qualification of teachers or they will be shut down.
The chairman said a big number of Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) candidates in the region did not transit to secondary schools.
“There is a big number of pupils who do not transit to secondary schools, posing a security challenge as they may be lured to join Al Shabaab, we call upon the government, the private sector and non-governmental organizations to help in capacity building our vocational training centres so that those who do not do well in class 8 can acquire relevant skills to be self-employed, ” said Giro.
He called on students to work hard in schools to curb rampant national examinations cheating witnessed in the region.
Area county commissioner Kutswa Olaka said he has ordered his deputy county commissioners to review the education standards in their sub counties and explain why the government was not attaining the 100 per cent transition rate from primary to secondary schools.
The county is experiencing an acute shortage of teachers following mass exodus of non local tutors from the region in 2014 due to insecurity.
By Githaiga Dickson