By Amoto Ndiewo
Kwale governor Salim Mvurya has rubbished claims that his government built Early Childhood Development Education (ECDE) centres without adequate staff.
Speaking in Tiwi while dishing out bursaries to needy students, the governor strongly denied the allegations and argued that his administration had employed enough staff in all the departments.
‘My government has more than 946 highly skilled ECDE tutors who are providing quality education in all the ECDE centres. We are constructing ECDE schools because we have adequate ECDE teachers,’ he said.
He further explained that the tutors are employed on permanent and pensionable terms.
He added that in this financial year, there are plans to build and adequately staff ECDE centres with tutors.
‘Since the beginning of my term, I have constructed about 500 fully fledged ECDE schools with modern learning facilities including food and entertainment programs for the children,’’ said the governor.
He added that the luxurious learning environment attracts more children and keeps them in school.
He explained that in the past, young children avoided schools due to biting hunger and lack of access to nearby schools and that resulted into poor performance in examinations.
‘Some of the children from poor families in the region cannot afford two square meals per day hence they shun school. However, with available snacks and porridge, their interest in school has sky rocketed,’ said the governor, who noted that his goal is to create a conducive learning atmosphere for all Kwale children .
He noted that since ECDE roots for great foundation, the Kwale child has better chance of surging ahead with a firm foundation.
‘Definitely they are bound to have a great passion for learning from an early stage,’ he said.
He said improving health, food security and infrastructural development remains a priority in his agenda.
‘My government is committed to having equal sustainable development projects to uplift the living standards of the residents,’ he said, adding that the mail goal of supporting educational programmes is to fight poverty so that learners are exposed to fair employment opportunities in the future.
He also promised to continue supporting needy parents through bursary programmes to help their children fulfil their dreams and transform lives.
He pleaded with the youth to shun child marriages, drugs and teenage pregnancies.
He expressed regret that last year, there were 9,000 cases of teenage pregnancies and a surge of criminal activities being reported in the region.
Furthermore, the coast regional security team ranked Kwale as a top hub where youth are radicalized. As a result, more than 200 county enforcement officials have been trained by Kenya Defence Forces to counter violent extremism in Kwale.
