By Education News Reporter
Out of school youth and adults have been urged to enrol for classes in Adult and Continuing Education (ACE) centres in order to advance their education.
Speaking during the advocacy and publicity campaign for Adult Learning and Education at Eastleigh High School in Nairobi in early October, Nairobi County Director of Adult and Continuing Education Ms. Salome Terah said the classes are necessary for adults and young people who did not attend normal learning classes as well as school dropouts to enable them gain skills to manage loans, hustler funds provided by the government and operating businesses.
She expressed concern that some of the older generations receiving government stipend do not know how to read and write and called upon them to enroll into Technical and Vocational Education Training (TVET) institutions, middle level colleges and universities to advance their education.
“The government is encouraging those who didn’t have a chance to attain formal learning to grab this opportunity to transit so that they can be able to integrate into the community,” said Ms. Terah.
She called upon individuals interested in continuing their education to visit the Adult Education office at Nyayo House so that they can be referred to various centres.
She further appealed to churches, mosques, the county government and schools to provide the department with spaces for classes in their institutions.
She urged private providers offering adult classes in Nairobi to register with the department as all providers are required to work under one umbrella.
“We are aware some private providers are doing the work yet we do not have clues where they operate,” she noted, adding further that her office is mandated to give all the providers technical advice, materials and quality data so that they can offer quality education.
The campaign which ran from October 3-7 with the theme, ‘A call to Second Chance to Learning: Transforming Literacy Learning Spaces,’ saw the organizers go on road shows, talk shows in media houses, exhibitions and reading tent and community services activities.
The campaign aimed to enroll hundreds of learners for Adult and Continuing Education and also to educate members of the public on the importance of the same in the 21st century.
Currently, the County has a total of 10, 841 adult learners comprising of 5, 499 females and 5,342 males learning in the 250 centres spread across various sub-counties.
Kamukunji Deputy County Commissioner James Kamau singled out informal settlements within the County as areas with the highest population of those without basic education.
He urged Nairobi residents to sensitize members of the public in their areas of residence on the importance of education, adding that the government is putting a lot of emphasis on adult education in order to eradicate poverty, illiteracy and ignorance in the society.
“We want all Kenyans to know how to read, write and to speak English and Kiswahili languages. It is only through education that one can prosper,” he said.
The DCC announced that all the 17 sub counties in Nairobi are conducting sensitization campaigns to educate the public on the importance of attaining the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) certificate.
He concluded by stating how encouraging it is for most people to enroll for the adult classes, unlike before when they were ashamed of saying they are adult learners.
Statistics from the Directorate of ACE reveal that between March 2020-March 2021, there was a major drop in enrollment by a total of 109, 667 adult learners which represents 60.09 per cent countrywide.
By March 2020 (before the outbreak of Covid-19), there were 182,518 learners who had enrolled in various adult education centres undertaking various programmes, of which 60, 328 learners were male while 122, 190 were female.
The number dropped to 72, 851 learners by March 2021: 26, 931 males and 45, 920 females.
