A Head teacher Garissa has lamented that most learners in the area do not have birth certificates and urged parents to urgently obtain them to boost enrollment in area schools.
Kamuthe Primary School head Mohamed Aden said that his school has an enrollment of 400 students but only 168 have birth certificates despite the region being relatively scarcely populated.
He said that although certificates are issued by Chiefs, their Assistants and hospitals, most residents shy away from delivering in hospitals and do not report to relevant authorities after giving birth.
“Although the birth certificate is a basic requirement for admission in basic institutions, most of us turn a blind eye and send children to school without them,” another primary school head teacher who sought anonymity said.
The school head lamented that the situation has caused many pupils to miss funds from the government because they are not catered for in the National Education Management Information System (NEMIS).
“Anyway, we let the children continue to learn while we seek alternative ways of righting the misadventure committed by their parents, who might be too busy eking a livelihood elsewhere,” he said.
The school heads said that sensitizing the locals remains a tall order owing to the long distance between the locals’ homes and the offices where they can access the necessary government documents.
By Amoto Ndiewo
Get more stories from our website: Education News
To write to us or offer feedback, you can reach us at: editor@educationnews.co.ke
You can also follow our social media pages on Twitter: Education News KE and Facebook: Education News Newspaper for timely updates.
>>> Click here to stay up-to-date with trending regional stories
