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An education officer in Kisii County has warned parents and guardians against keeping school –going children at home, saying they risk arrest and prosecution.

The County Education Board chairman, Prof Henry Onderi (above), urged clan elders, chiefs and security officers to comb the area and ensure that all children go to school.

The official said several children who sat the Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) examination last year were yet to join secondary schools, terming it wrong and unacceptable.

Right to education

“It is the government’s policy that we have 100 per cent transition to secondary schools. We want to know by Monday the parents who have not taken their children to school”, Onderi said, stressing on the right children have to access education.

He told teachers to ensure that Grade Six candidates who wrote the Kenya Primary School Education Assessment (KPSEA) last year transit to Junior Secondary Schools (JSS) to comply with the Government’s policy.

 A spot check by “People Daily” showed that many Grade Six learners whose schools were not approved by the government to offer JSS education were joining the approved ones, crowding them.

Kisii Primary School head teacher, James Mitunda, and his Kari DEB school counterpart, Abed Maseno, said many learners were joining the few approved schools, forcing the management to increase the number of streams to accommodate them. 

“Many learners are moving from neighbouring schools to urban-based institutions which offer JSS education. We are ready to accommodate them”, said Maseno.