Trans Nzoia Governor George Natembeya has said there is need to improve infrastructure development in schools, besides increasing capitation and manpower to boost the quality of education.
Natembeya said congestion in classrooms, inadequate teachers and the rush to implement the new Competence Based Curriculum were some of the challenges that affect quality of education in the country.
The Governor was speaking Tuesday when he met members of the presidential task force on education, who paid a courtesy call on him in his office.
Natembeya highlighted the County administration’s plans of enhancing Early Childhood Education by absorbing some 800 ECDE tutors on permanent and pensionable terms, rolling out a school feeding program and employing additional ECDE teachers.
The governor pointed out that the county has a deficit of 1,200 ECDE teachers, while disclosing that his administration will first put up additional classrooms before employing them.
The taskforce chair Prof. David Some said they have gathered important information during their field visits to several schools in the county and have since established the key challenges they were facing.
He cited shortage of infrastructure development in most public schools they had visited, hence need for construction of more classrooms.
“For instance, we visited St. Joseph national school and we were astonished to find out that a class holds more than 70 students, which is too much for one teacher to handle” said Prof. Some.
By Kosuri Valarie
