By Correspondent
Residents of Pokot South Sub County have been advised to spend whatever valuable possessions they have to educate their children.
The advice was given by the area Acting Director for Education, Mr Julius Ngonesh when he addressed a community Baraza at Full Gospel Church Kabichbich yesterday.
Mr Ngonesh said it was pointless to hold property such as livestock yet fail to use it to educate children.
He said education is an investment and using proceeds from livestock to educate children was better use of livestock.
Mr Ngonesh spoke during an education stakeholder meeting organised by the Ministry of Education to discuss the challenges facing access, retention and transition of learners to secondary education in ASAL and marginalised areas across the country.
The area Subcounty Quality Assurance and Standards officer, Ms Scholastica Lutomia said parents in the area detained their children from attending schools during market days to take care of the homes as they take potatoes and other produce to the markets.
She advised the residents against the practice saying their children missed to learn important things in the curriculum thereby affecting their performance in the National examinations.
The forum was convened by the Ministry of Education under the auspices of Secondary Education Quality Improvement Project, (SEQIP)—a World Bank funded project, worth Shs.20 billion.
The Youth and Gender Mainstreaming Officer in the Ministry of Education, Mr Stephen Jalenga said men who married girls or have sexual affairs with girls under eighteen years faced the risks of long imprisonment.
He said the girls should be left alone to pursue their education to their fullest possible reach.
He said allowing daughters to complete their education made them more useful to the parents and the community than leaving them to be illiterate.
The project aims at improving retention of learners in upper primary school and transition to secondary school in 30 Counties and 110 Sub counties in Arid and Semi-Arid and marginalised areas in Kenya.
The targeted regions have peculiar problems that undermine children’s access to education. Some of the problems which prevent children from going to and remaining in school in West Pokot County include teenage pregnancy, early marriages, female genital mutilation, child Labour—problems that cultural practices supports.
Children who join primary education drop out of schools in significant numbers when they reach class six, seven and eight. Others don’t join form one altogether, thereby undercutting whatever gains they may have had accessing education.
Areas the Secondary Education Quality Improvement Project is set to improve besides retention and transition of learners to secondary schools include: improving school infrastructure, enhancing teacher professional development, provision of textbooks, improving retention in upper primary school and transition to secondary school of poor and vulnerable students through provision of scholarship to children joining secondary education from these areas, among other areas touching on access, quality and equity in education.
