The governor noted that Nakuru was well endowed with very few cases of absenteeism, early childhood marriages or food scarcity yet is was lagging behind in education performance. Photo/CFM.
NAIROBI, Kenya Mar 16 – Governor Lee Kinyanjui has decried poor academic performance in Nakuru schools, and urged stakeholders to identify urgent solutions.
The Governor said unless urgent measures are taken, there will be no improvement in this year’s national examinations due later in the year.
Records at the Education ministry and the Kenya National Examinations Council (KNEC) show a decline in academic performance in the county over the past four years.
According to Nakuru County Education Director Isaac Atebe, the region posted a mean of 3.5 in last year’s KCSE compared to 6.8 recorded in 2015.
He said a similar decline was recorded in KCPE from a mean score of 289 in 2015 to about 240 last year, leaving parents, teachers and students worried.
Of much concern to Governor Kinyanjui is the 11,314 candidates from the region who scored Es in Mathematics in last year’s Kenya Certificate of School Education.
“Mathematics is a vital component in many professions such as law, medicine, engineering and all science based careers, condemning all this children from pursuing such jobs is unacceptable,” he said at the opening of the National Dialogue on Education Quality and Learning Outcomes.
Kinyanjui said his administration will not sit easy and watch as education standards in the county deteriorated.
“It is saddening that Nakuru only managed to transit only 13 per cent of its candidates who sat KCSE last here and this numbers have to be increased through concerted efforts from county government and all stakeholders,” he said.
The governor noted that Nakuru was well endowed with very few cases of absenteeism, early childhood marriages or food scarcity yet is was lagging behind in education performance.
“The results are not consistent with the resources and this is totally unacceptable,” he said.
Kinyanjui observed that the Subukia, Kuresoi North and South were some of the sub counties with the lowest performance.
He said it was unfortunate that schools were organising fundraisers to buy buses instead of constructing facilities such as laboratories in schools.
“The County Government will buy buses which will be used by schools whenever they need one so that they can put their resources to other more vital uses” he said.
The Governor said his administration will also establish a motivation and scholarships program for teachers to help uplift education standards in the region.
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