Only close to 30 percent of students who sat Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education last year in Nandi County have applied for placement in various colleges and universities.
Nandi Hills Member of Parliament Bernard Kitur regrets that out of the 22,000 KCSE candidates who sat for the exam last year, only close to 7,000 have applied for various courses under Kenya Universities and Colleges Central Placement Service, but the rest couldn’t be traced and were believed to be idling in villages.
Kitur urged Nandi County residents to support their KCSE children who qualified to join various institutions to ensure they don’t forfeit government support under KUCCPS.
He said unaccounted-for students do not know that they could be placed at various levels of colleges through government support.
The MP said it was unfortunate that some of these students who qualified to join universities and colleges are still at home and do not know what to do.
“I want to encourage locals to let us engage KUCCPS and help our children apply to various courses provided by various universities and colleges so that they don’t remain at home,” Kitur told the press in Kapsabet town.
However, Kitur asked KUCCPS to continue to give young people time to submit their applications because access to the internet in rural Kenya remains a challenge as most of them do not have smartphones.
“So KUCCPS still needs to do a lot of work, particularly in Nandi County, to keep the lives of young people from getting ruined,” he said.
The legislature further tasked KUCCPS with explaining to Kenyans what students should do if they don’t get admission to the courses they applied for.
Kitur wants KUCCPS to utilise modern technology and advise young people on whether to change courses or what direction they should take.
The MP thanked Education Cabinet Secretary Ezekiel Machogu for extending the quest for scholarships and funding among students joining universities and colleges from early next month.
He exuded confidence that students who had either applied for scholarships or any other category of funding from the government would be sorted out, as the Minister for Education has already written a circular to all university and college management asking them to give the students time.
On the other hand, Kitur asked the Teachers Service Commission to expedite the transfer of delocalized teachers to areas of their choice according to the policy the President himself and various leaders across the country supported.
The MP spoke during a press briefing after Kenya National Union of Teachers Nandi Central Branch’s annual general meeting held at St. Peters High Class Academy in Kapsabet town today.
He assured that he and other leaders would support Nandi teachers to ensure education standards are uplifted through continuous improvement of school infrastructure and any other form of help.
By Geoffrey Satia
