Ijara MP Sophia Abdinoor has accused the Ministry of Education of being insensitive to the plight of the school going children from poor family backgrounds.
Sophia said that the ministry did not consider children from rural areas who have no access to electricity, laptops, network connectivity when coming up with e-learning programme.
The MP said that the insistence by the government that the national examination will not be postponed is a clear indication that it does not care about that the disadvantaged children in the rural areas.
She said that the new learning guidelines ended up creating two classes of education systems in the country by assuming that all children in the country have equal opportunities.
“There are places like Ijara where we don’t have laptops, there is no internet. The ministry of education must re-think of their plan and strategy on how to include disadvantaged children,” Sophia said.
“You cannot tell me that the child in rural Ijara will sit for the same exam with a child in Nairobi. We will not accept that. We are one country and the ministry must come up with a strategy for every place,” she added.
Last month, Kenyans slammed education CS Prof. George Magoha for saying children were learning online during the Covid-19 pandemic.
They accused the CS of being out of touch with reality since learners living in informal settlements and rural areas could not access the internet.
Others said the e-learning platform was a waste of time and was not sufficient to prepare candidates for the national examination.
The MP was speaking Sunday, when she distributed Sh15 million foodstuffs from well-wishers and Sh2 million in cash to vulnerable residents of Kotile, Korisa, Hara, Ijara, Sangailu and Hulugho in her constituency.
She said that despite the challenges occasioned by the Covid-19 and the floods, the government must strive to deliver on its agenda.
“These children care less what the rest of the country is going through. What they need for now is food and an education to better their future. We must strive as a country leadership to ensure service delivery is not compromised,” she said.
Ijara sub-county deputy county commissioner Samwel Towett said that the national government has enough food in store to cater for the vulnerable families in the area.
Towett said that his office together with county government and other aid agencies have intensified hygiene promotion and social distancing campaign to curb potential infection and spread of the highly infectious Corona virus in the area.
By Jacob Songok
