Mombasa expects a considerably high turnout in form one admission following several efforts by stakeholders, to reach the target of achieving 100 percent transition.
The intake is expected to hit 78 per cent by Friday this week, as students began reporting to school, Monday.
According to Mombasa County Director of Education, Peter Magiri, the process began smoothly in the County.
Magiri said that the high school intake rate expected is as a result of a number of students getting sponsorship from several financial institutions and organizations.
“I was in Shimo la Tewa high school, and they had recorded almost 50 percent turnout on day one, reports from sub-county directors of education also indicate that the numbers are very impressive,” he said.
He attributed the turn to scholarship opportunities from various institutions including Equity ‘Wings to fly’, KCB, NGO’s and county governments.
About 12,000 pupils sat for the 2022 Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) in Mombasa.
Countrywide, over 1.23 million children sat for the exams and began reporting to schools Monday morning in line with the government’s 100 per cent transition initiative.
Magiri said the challenge in Mombasa was that 53 public secondary schools spread across the county have a capacity to take about 8,000 pupils only.
Only two public schools in Mombasa; Shimo la Tewa High School (boys) and Mama Ngina Girls High School have boarding facilities.
Others including Moi Forces Academy in Likoni, Changamwe Secondary School and Joho Girls, are partially boarding with the rest serving as day schools.
“The government already took care of this by allocating the extra 4,000 learners schools outside the County, we can safely say that all our children in Mombasa will go to school,” he said.
Parents and guardians taking children to school had complained of the high cost of living saying it had made it difficult for them to meet most of the school requirements.
Many of them whose children were to be admitted to boarding schools have now opted to send them to public day schools.
Saumu Awadh, one of the parents who accompanied her child to report at Changamwe Secondary School, said that as parents they were going through a difficult time.
“The high cost of living is taking toll on us, but we are struggling to ensure that our children go to school. My girl was received an admission letter to join Kwale Girls High school, but I cannot afford the fees, so I decided to bring her here,” said Awadh.
She was among the hundreds of parents who turned out to the school Monday morning.
The school principal Faith Waithaka said that they had made arrangements with parents on the mode and when the payments will be done.
“Like for us here the parents only pay for lunch money, and we have agreed on how they will pay for those who were unable to come up with the money,” she said, adding that they are not sending anyone home as parents are struggling to make ends meet.
Changamwe Secondary School is expected to admit 270 pupils. The school also has boarding facilities to accommodate about 170 students.
Magiri reiterated that no child will be sent home as he urged parents to make arrangements with the schools on how they will play their part.
“Parents need to agree on how they will meet their obligations; we can’t say that their children will go to school for free because they will be using school facilities. They need to make arrangements on when and how they will pay,” Magiri said.
President William Ruto on Sunday announced the government had disbursed Shs.36 billion capitations and distributed books to schools in the country.
The government is paying capitation for free primary school and subsidized secondary school.
By Chari Suche
