The County Government of Homa Bay has launched a mentorship programme for schoolboys in a bid to cushion them from social challenges impeding their education.
This follows concerns that the boy child has been neglected, as nearly all focus has shifted to the girlchild over the years.
Governor Gladys Wanga launched the mentorship programme today in Wang’apala Secondary School in Kabondo Kasipul Constituency.
Wanga said over 5,000 boys drawn from schools across the County were targeted to be mentored in the programme.
The programme, dubbed Governor’s Mentorship Camp; Boys Edition, was being undertaken by Governor Wanga’s office in partnership with that of the spouse to the Governor, George Wanga.
The Governor said they started the programme after realising that boys were being neglected.
“I had been carrying out mentorship programmes for our girls during my tenure as the Homa Bay County Woman Rep. However, it had become apparent that boys were being neglected,” Wanga said.
The Governor observed that boys engaged in vices such as drug abuse, defilement, and radicalization, which impeded their education, thus the need for mentorship.
“It is prudent to protect the male children from such vices through mentorship programmes,” she said.
The boys who represented their colleagues in the programme will share the knowledge they have acquired with their peers.
“Boys are also vulnerable; hence, we have to mentor them. We want the boys and girls to interact for academic matters, not sexual relationships,” Wanga said.
Embakasi East MP Babu Owino encouraged the boys to exploit their academic potential to enable them to succeed in life.
Owino told the boys from underprivileged backgrounds to shun being discouraged by poverty in their families.
“Let students work hard because they are the people who will emancipate their families from poverty. Those with financial challenges should not be discouraged,” Owino said.
Kabondo Kasipul MP Eve Obara said the programme will transform Homa Bay County.
“This programme will ensure Homa Bay County has productive men in the future, and we will continue to support it,” Dr. Obara said.
Homa Bay County Kenya Secondary School Heads Association Chairman Dickens Bula said the mentorship programme will reduce discrimination against boys in schools.
Bula argued that many boys have been yearning for the mentorship programmes for many years, but there was nobody to offer them the opportunity.
“It had come to a point where boys in this County felt they were being sidelined. This programme is going to boost the morale of the boys and improve education standards,” Bula said.
By Davis Langat
