By Kese Werugha
Kilifi County Governor Amason Kingi has said that an acute shortage of teachers in the county has contributed to the declining standards of education in the region.
Kingi said public primary and secondary schools in the region are worst hit by the shortage as many teachers also employed by the Board of Managements (BOMs) and parents were running away because of non-regular payment of their salaries.
Speaking during the Kilifi North Constituency Education Day at Kilifi Township Secondary School, Kingi said that there was need to bring uniformity in the education sector with the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) employing equal number of teachers in all the 47 counties in the country.
According education officials, the county is estimated to be having a shortfall of about 2,000 teachers following retirements and some who have died.
The Governor praised the BOM, parents and teachers of Kilifi Township for ensuring students are bringing discipline.
He called upon the County Security Committee led by County Commissioner Magu Mutindika to speed up investigations into the recent burning of Chumani and Galana secondary schools where property worth Sh15 million were lost.
“The culprits involved in the torching of the two schools should be arrested and prosecuted,” he said,
The Governor who was accompanied by his Education Minister Prof. Gabriel Katana and the area MP, Dr. Owen Baya noted with concern that Kilifi County which used to be the academic giant in Coast region in the 1990s was now trailing in the KCPE and KCSE national examinations.
Kingi revealed that his Government has allocated Sh350 million this year for bursaries, with every ward receiving Sh10 million to be issued to bright students from poor backgrounds in the 35 wards.
He cautioned the bursary committees against issuing bursaries to children from wealthy families and urged the MCAs to ensure that there is no corruption during their exercise.
