About 4500 school aged children have been taken back to school out of the total of 23,000 school children reported to be out of school in Tana River County.
Tana River County Director of Education Mr. Mwashegwa Mwasaru said through his office, UNICEF and other stakeholders in education reached 4475 children who were out of school and took them back to school.
Mwasaru was responding to a directive by Tana River County Commissioner Mr. Omar Beja who had directed chiefs and assistant chiefs that the 23,000 school aged children should be taken back to school.
Speaking during the National government service delivery Committee meeting held at Hola County Commissioner’s boardroom Mwasaru blamed parents for their failure to take their children to school saying, some parents refused to pay school fees, skipped school meetings and retained their children at home to look after livestock and do farming activities after they are sent home for school fees.
The County Director of Education also identified shortage of teachers as a challenge saying primary schools had a shortage of about 600 teachers while secondary schools needed 240 more.
Mwasaru however said in the 2022 Kenya Certificate of Secondary Examination (KCSE), a total of 84 students got grade C+ and above and they would join universities this year noting that there was an improvement compared to 2021 where only 79 qualified for higher education.
Speaking at the same meeting that was chaired by County Commissioner Beja, Kenya National Highway Authority (KeNHA) Coast Region official Eng. Lewis Maina said the Authority is undertaking the maintenance and safety improvement of Garsen-Hola tarmac road.
He added that the Garsen-Mnazini section’s contract has been issued and was scheduled to start on January 25, 2023 and end on January 24, 2026 at a total sum of Sh446, 653, 791.
Eng. Maina also said that a contract has been issued for the section of the road from Mnazini-Hola to start on January 25, 2023 and end on January 24, 2026 at a total sum of Sh369 million adding that the works have commenced whereby pot holes would be refilled and the most damaged parts of the road re-carpeted.
By Simon Guruba
