By Our Reporter
The government has launched a programme aimed at getting 32,000 children back to school after dropping out for various reasons in Narok County.
The programme is being implemented by the government in partnership with United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF).
According to a new baseline survey conducted by UNICEF in the year 2021, they cited pregnancy, child marriage and child labour as the primary reasons why children leave school.
The findings also revealed that Narok South Sub-county is the most affected with over 10,000 children out of school.
The situation was made worse after the government closed schools in March 2020 due to the corona virus pandemic.
Narok County Commissioner Isaac Masinde said they had put in place elaborate measures to ensure the learners are back in class.
“We are doing everything possible to get these children who are out of school back into class,” said Masinde, who spoke to the media in his office.
Masinde directed all the administrators to carry out campaigns that will ensure there is 100 per cent school attendance for all children.
“I have held meetings with education stakeholders where we have reached agreements to use all means available to return all the children back to school,” he said.
He added that they will hold several public barazas in the most affected areas to sensitize the residents on the importance of taking children to school.
“All the chiefs and their assistants, under the leadership of assistant county commissioners, to ensure all children within their jurisdictions are in school,” said the administrator.
The county commissioner also said that every child in Kenya has the right to an education as enshrined in the Kenyan Constitution.
“All children have a right to free education hence no child should be sent home by teachers because of lack of school fees or uniform as the government expects children to be in school,” said Masinde.
He issued warnings to the parents and guardians using children as labourers, to graze livestock and in the farms that they risk being arrested and punished in courts of law.
Meanwhile, Masinde has warned FGM practitioners that their days are numbered and that the government was committed to ending the cruel practice.
“FGM has a negative impact on education and the victims mostly drop out of school to get married. This is why we want to fight this outdated practice,” Masinde said.
He told chiefs and their assistants they must be on the forefront in battling FGM and reporting culprits to police.
“The people still practicing the vice should be arrested and prosecuted,” the county commissioner said.
