Kakamega County has spent over Sh 54 million to purchase chairs and tables for 306 Early Childhood Development and Education (ECDE) centres.
The County Governor Wycliffe Oparanya said the over 22000 chairs and 3000 tables will be distributed across all the ECDE centres in the 12 sub-counties
In a speech read on his behalf by County Executive Committee Member (CECM) for Education, Science and Technology George Akolo Lutomia, the Governor said such efforts by the county has contributed to the steady growth of enrollment of learners in school from seventy five thousand four hundred and sixty nine children in 2013 to the current enrollment of one hundred and twenty four thousand, five hundred this year.
Oparanya also announced that all ECDE teachers will be placed on Permanent and Pensionable (P&P) terms with effect from July 1, 2022 a scheme of service enacted for the teachers to earn like others in primary and secondary schools.
“My government aims to involve more learners and increase their participation by providing a conducive learning environment to all Early Childhood and Development Education (ECDE) centers,” Oparanya said.
“During an assessment in academic performance in education we realized that most ECDE centers had a challenge in providing a child-friendly environment. This is why my government saw the need to provide furniture in all the 12 sub counties,” he added.
Oparanya said in the 2019/2020 financial year the county procured twenty two thousand chairs and thirty three thousand tables which benefited two hundred and thirty four schools at the cost of fifty million.
“In the 2020/2021 financial year, the county procured twenty thousand and forty four chairs and three thousand and three hundred and forty tables which benefited three hundred and thirty four schools at the cost 54,400,000”,he added.
He said so far, the county has spent Sh530 million in the development of infrastructure for ECDE centers.
“This year the county government intends to commission 27 newly built ECDE centers at the cost of ninety four million shillings” he added.
He said the county government has partnered with the Kenya Literature Bureau (KLB) in printing and publishing branded teaching and learning materials that has been supplied to all ECDE centers and polytechnics.
“In total the county government has spent forty nine million for ECDE and twenty four million shillings for county polytechnics” he added.
Oparanya said the county has employed 216 ECDE teachers to address the gap and is still recruiting more.
‘The county government has also increased the salaries of these teachers from Sh8000 to Sh16000 for those who are certificate holders and from Sh 10,000 to Sh 18,000 for diploma holders and from Sh 12,000 to for those with a degree to 20000,” he said.
By Cynthia Kerubo
