According to the County Minister for Education Esther Ndirangu, some schools have seen a surge in vacancy requests by area residents looking to enrol their kids for the next year class/file
Childhood Education Centre (ECDEC) for the January 2015 classes following the county Government’s move to introduce school feeding programs.
According to the County Minister for Education Esther Ndirangu, some schools have seen a surge in vacancy requests by area residents looking to enrol their kids for the next year class.
“Some schools could only get about 10 kids but since the inception of the feeding program, there has been a rise in the number of pupils. Schools in the larger Lari Sub-County for example now record between 30 and 40 pupils,” she said.
Ndirangu said that in August 2013, the department conducted a baseline survey on the status of ECDEC in Kiambu County.
The results of the survey revealed that Kiambu County has several pockets of poverty and semi-arid areas.
The report revealed that children from these areas were facing several challenges including going to school hungry and it was, “urgent that the government addressed the problem.”
The minister said that the government then with other county stakeholders set aside Sh10 million for the feeding program drafted between the county government and organizations involved in school feeding programs.
“The county identified 120 out of the 477 ECDE centres that were worst hit by the problem and we launched the program, since investing in education is key to realisation of development and fight against poverty and unemployment,” she said.
The county is also refurbishing the centres as most of the buildings are inhabitable and a health hazard for the children.
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