Tigania Central Deputy County Commissioner Patrick Messo has raised an alarm over rampant indiscipline cases among learners in the area, leading to high cases of truancy.
According to the administrator, there are many children leaving school after registering for national exams only to end up working as house girls and the boys doing menial jobs in Nairobi and other towns.
“Last week, we had an incident where ten KCSE candidates came 30 minutes late for the exams. We had to intervene to address the matter. We have a challenge with parents absconding their responsibility and allowing their children to stay at home,” he said.
Messo blamed the guardians of these children citing that if discipline is instilled at early stages of a child’s growth, they will embrace it.
Consequently, he cited early marriage, teen pregnancy, indiscipline and lack of role models as a major impediment to access to education in the area.
‘We have been dealing with high cases of early marriages in this region. We have been putting a lot of efforts on sensitizing parents on the need of taking their children to school,” he said.
He warned the guardians who are still hesitating to take their children to school that they shall be prosecuted in accordance with law.
“We have a very long holiday, I urge parents to sacrifice a lot of time to take proper care of their children, let’s know the company your child is keeping to avoid vices such as drug abuse.
“In the KCPE exams, we tried to trace more than 200 candidates in vain. They never showed up despite having been registered. There is a need for concerted effort to address this menace,” Mr Messo said.
The administrator called on parents to embrace education and ensure that their children get access to education citing that by empowering them they will be able to develop the region.
Meru County Director of Education, David Kinaiya, pointed out that 26,879 candidates were registered for KCSE this year.
This is even as it emerged that 21 KCSE candidates and more than 200 KCPE candidates had not sat for their exams this year.
By Muguongo Judy
