By Hilton Mwabili
More than 1.2 million learners in both Primary and secondary schools from 10 counties are currently out of school and cannot be traced, according to leaders of the Frontier Counties Development Council (FCDC) bloc.
This despite President Uhuru Kenyatta’s directive to the Ministry of Education to ensure all learners, including those who are pregnant or are new mothers, report back to school following the full reopening on January 4.
Last year, Uhuru directed the ministry to “re-issue and publicise the education policy on school re-entry to facilitate the re-admission of all of those who may not be able to report due to pregnancy.”
The 10 counties are Turkana, West Pokot, Samburu, Isiolo, Mandera, Wajir, Garissa, Tana River, Lamu and Mandera.
Primary schools have 821,790 absentee learners, followed by pre-primary at 288,350 and secondary 185,680, bringing the total to 1,295,820.
The report is, however, in a sharp contrast with that of the Ministry of Education which paints a more positive picture about situation.
When Education Cabinet Secretary George Magoha toured the Coast recently, he said the schools in the region were almost at par with other parts of the country on the return-to-school rates.
“I was in Taita Taveta County, today I went to Kilifi and now I am here in Mombasa. I am happy because in some of the schools that I have visited, the return to school is 104 per cent,” said Magoha, adding that the few who were yet to report may either be pregnant or had just given birth.
In a statement, governors Ali Roba (Mandera governor and FCDC chair), vice chair Mohamud Ali (Marsabit), Josephat Nanok (Turkana), Moses Lenoolkulal (Samburu), Dhadho Godhana (Tana River), Fahim Twaha (Lamu), Dr Abdi Isaack (Deputy Governor Isiolo) and his Wajir counterpart Ahmed Mukhtar said at least 107,556 primary and secondary school students “dropped out of school during the Covid-19 pandemic.”
According to the leaders, Mandera has the most number of learners out of school at 265,000, followed by Garissa 255,870, Wajir 237,400, Turkana 224,270 and Marsabit 94,320.
“Half of the people in the FCDC region are illiterate and this situation only worsens an already dire situation,” Roba said.
He added: “Sustainable development is largely dependent on literacy levels. What it means is that this region will be left behind if the situation persists.”
They appealed for intervention by the Ministry of Education and the President to help arrest the situation and ensure children in these counties get access to basic education.
The leadership cited severe teacher shortage and growing insecurity resulting from al-shabab terror attacks as key reasons for the growing school dropout rate and dwindling access to education.
According to the leaders, counties like Mandera, Wajir and Garissa have been hit by teacher staffing gaps after the Teachers Service Commission withdrew teachers over insecurity.
In Mandera County for example there is an enrollment of 112,924 against 295 schools and 2,251 classes. There are 128 teachers and a shortage of 1,707 teachers.
Similarly, there are 57 secondary schools with 364 classes and enrollment of 11,308 learners but the number of teachers on duty is only 424. The shortage of Teachers stands at 437.
