Parents in Meru County have been urged to take the front line in encouraging learners to take time and identify and pursue individual passion in the available learning fields.
Speaking during a 2021 KCPE performance evaluation meeting in Meru town, County Kenya Primary Schools Association Chapter Chairman Bernard Kiragu said every learner had a dream to achieve, saying education development stakeholders had an obligation to deliver on respective roles to enable learners to live their wish.
Kiragu commended education sector players and partners for enabling the region to realise commendable results in the recently released 2021 KCPE results, over and above challenges brought in by Covid-19 since its invasion in March 2020.
He appreciated efforts made by the public and private school management teams to work round the clock to beat Covid-19 related challenges to ensure none had adverse effects on the overall school performance in the national examination.
The school heads leader appealed to parents to seriously take the responsibility of supporting learners financially and emotionally as opposed to a very detrimental culture, where more often than not learners get reprimanded for not meeting the expectations of parents in their academic results.
Kiragu said all players in the education sector had a duty to ensure Meru County was not listed among areas reporting cases of depression and suicide among young learners, due to embarrassing pressure from parents, siblings and relatives for not performing as expected.
He ruled out a common perception that academic excellence was the key to all success doors in human life, saying each individual had a potential in the non-academic area, adding that nobody had any form of authority to condemn a learner for not being outstanding in academic performance.
The teachers’ leader regretted that some young people were being pushed into running away from home after being subjected to a lot of ridicule on performing below average in the academic work only to get hooked into crime, alcohol and substance abuse due lack of preparedness to cope with life challenges away from home.
Kiragu reiterated that all teachers in the county led by school heads had agreed to remain committed to identifying academically weak learners, and together with other players in the sector create opportunities for them to achieve individual dreams for a better future.
By Makaa Margaret
