The Kenya National Union of Teachers (KNUT) has raised concerns over lack of funds for early childhood education in most counties in the North Rift.
National Council Rift Valley Representative Martin Sembelo said special attention needs to be paid on prioritization of early childhood education.
He called on the national and county governments to significantly increase the budgetary allocations for the sector especially in marginalized counties.
Speaking in his Kapenguria office, Sembelo said that about one thousand children in the area are forced to stay at home because of non-existence of schools.
“The area requires urgent interventions through building ECDE centres as relative peace has been restored in the region,” said Sembelo.
He called on stakeholders in the sector to actively engage in advocating for promotion of early childhood development.
He said at the moment, many parents from the pastoralist communities have embrace education and the number of children joining school has risen.
Sembelo stated that there in need to improve the infrastructure in ECDE schools, which cannot be achieved without the preceding increase in the allocation of funds.
“We need to see more involvement of the private sector, but we need also to see an increase in the government’s budget,” he said, adding that presently, very little of the education budget goes towards early childhood education.
By Kipilat Kapusia
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