Chiefs and their assistants in Malindi Sub-county will now conduct a door to door campaign to ensure all last year’s Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) report to form one.
This follows a day-long meeting between them and Deputy County Commissioner John Kamau Karung’o last Tuesday after it emerged that less than 40 percent of students offered form one places in area schools had reported to school by Monday this week.
Briefing journalists on Wednesday, Malindi Assistant County Commissioner 1, Mr. John Kipsiwa, said the chiefs had been directed to conduct a door to door campaign to ensue 100 percent transition to secondary schools in the area.
“The chiefs and their assistants were directed to liaise with primary school head teachers and the Ministry of Education’s Curriculum Support Officers (CSOs) in their areas of jurisdiction to ensure compliance.
Mr. Kipsiwa said the chiefs would be required to know where all last year’s 7,556 KCPE candidates are and ensure those who will not have reported to school do so.
He said the junior administrators had been given lists of all last year’s candidates and their respective primary schools within their jurisdiction with a view to establishing whether the students will have reported to school or not.
“The chiefs will be required to establish why those who will not have reported to school are still at home. If it is because of fees, we have decided that such children be admitted in local day schools unconditionally,” he said.
On Tuesday, Mr Kipsiwa said out of the 6,831 students admitted in the sub county’s 31 secondary schools, only 2,717 had reported.
A report from the Sub County Education Office indicated that only 1,420 boys out of the 3,345 (42.45 percent) and 1,297 girls out of 3,486 (37.2 percent) offered placed in area schools had reported by Monday.
Only Ngala Memorial Girls Secondary School had achieved 100 percent of the number of students expected to join the extra-county school, with newly opened Shomani Girls Secondary school attracting only four out of the 135 students called to the school.
Malindi High School had recorded a performance of 73.5 percent followed by Muyeye Secondary School at 72.9 percent and Jilore Secondary School that recorded 61.8 percent.
By Emmanuel Masha
