More than 50 public schools out of 126 in Matuga Constituency, Kwale County are in pathetic condition and requires urgent interventions to improve learning.
According to the area MP Kasim Tandaza, the affected primary and secondary schools have been performing poorly academically over the years due to their dilapidated and inadequate learning facilities.
“There is need to address infrastructural development of the schools in question besides improving the learning environment for better results,” said Tandaza in Kwale town Wednesday.
He said in some of the primary schools pupils are forced to sit on bare floors and stones while attending their classes for lack of desks.
The legislator gave an example of Ng’ombeni Primary School where three quarters of the pupils have for years been learning without desks.
“The situation at the school is so bad that pupils from class one to six have to sit on the floor,” he said.
Tandaza added that the school is among several others that have benefitted through his initiative of distributing 1,000 desks to various needy institutions under the Matuga Constituency Strategic Plan.
He further said that construction of 55 classrooms is already underway in Mkongani, Kubo, and Tsimba-Golini Wards which he identified as the worst hit.
At the same time, he said out of 36 secondary schools 28 do not have science laboratories, an issue he described as alarming and which also needs to be addressed.
He said construction work on laboratories has already commenced at Kizibe, Burani, and Kiteje secondary schools.
Tandaza vowed to make sure that a consistent enabling learning environment is created in each and every school in the area by 2022.
He also urged residents to aggressively engage in businesses that will empower them economically to transform their lives since the region is not well endowed in such sectors like agriculture compared to some other counties.
“We cannot free ourselves from poverty unless we zealously utilize the available economic opportunities. Our agricultural productivity is still at subsistence level unlike elsewhere where the sector is well developed and a major source of income,” he added
By Shaban Omar and James Muchai
