Garissa Township Deputy County Commissioner Solomon Chesut has warned teachers and parents against occasioning skipping of junior secondary schools by students under the Competency Based Curriculum (CBC) to join the standard 8 classes under the 8-4-4 system.
Speaking at Garissa High School during the unveiling of the beneficiaries of the Elimu scholarship and the Equity Bank’s Wings to fly programmes, Chesut said that there is an upcoming trend from the local primary school teachers who are colliding with parents so that their students are moved from class six to class eight thus evading the enrolment of the students to junior secondary school as per the CBC outline.
“All those students who did the Grade 6 assessment exams are supposed to be in Junior Secondary schools. We have noticed that there are parents who are colluding with teachers to admit some of these students to class eight,” Chesut said.
“We are warning the teachers that you will lose your jobs. There is no way you can register a student from grade six to class eight. We have a list of some notorious schools and we have forwarded their names to the investigative agencies for further action,” he warned.
Chesut warned that no one will get away with any unlawful dealings that affect the lives of school going children.
The DCC encouraged the 1,843 students who are benefiting from the Elimu and Wings to fly scholarships in Garissa County this year to use the opportunity to study hard so that they can uplift the lives of their communities once they graduate and get or create jobs.
He further directed all chiefs and their assistants to ensure that there are 100 percent transitions of students in their areas of jurisdiction from Primary to Secondary schools.
The remarks came just a day after the regional coordinator for education Yussuf Karayu warned in a circular to county directors of education, school heads against unauthorised registration of grade seven JSS learners as 2023 KCPE candidates.
“This is to inform you that some unprofessional head teachers are receiving on transfer and registering grade seven JSS learners as 2023 KCPE candidates without the consent of the Ministry of Education officers at the sub county, county and regional levels,” reads the circular in parts.
“Let it be known that such head teachers will be dealt with firmly and held personally accountable for registering illegitimate KCPE candidates. The Ministry has issued all learners, including the grade seven pupils with unique personal identification numbers (UPI) and it will be very easy to trace such learners,” the circular reads further.
On his part, Area MP Dekow Mohamed asked the locals to encourage the children to take up teaching courses to bridge the teacher shortage gap in the region.
Equity Bank’s Shadrack Ngetich for Garissa branch called for creation of a directorate to oversee issuance of scholarships and bursaries to ensure that no student receives double scholarship or bursary where there are thousands others who need help.
“We need an information system with all students receiving bursaries, be it from Elimu, Wings to Fly, KCB or any other sponsors so that we don’t give a student a double scholarship when there are others who can benefit,” Ngetich said.
By Erick Kyalo and Abdulhamid Suleiman
