Mystery surrounds the whereabouts of approximately 4,000 students who were selected to join Form One in the North-Eastern region but not have reported to their respective schools.

According to data presented by North Eastern Regional Director of Education, Aden Roble, out of the 26,926 students selected to join secondary schools in the region, only 22,462 students have reported for admission this term.

Garissa is the most affected county where 6,491 students out of the 10,120 have reported to secondary schools, leaving over 4,000 students who are yet to report.

In Wajir county, 99 students are yet to report to Form One, while in Mandera, 13 students have joined vocational colleges and 168 have not joined Form One.

Address matter

The transition from primary to junior secondary school in the region is at 83.4 per cent, with Mandera leading with 99.5 per cent, Wajir at 90 per cent and Garissa is trailing at 64 per cent.

In light of the information, North Eastern Regional Commissioner (RC), John Otieno, called a meeting with County Commissioners, Deputy County Commissioners, Assistant County Commissioners, Chiefs and their Assistants in Garissa, to address the matter and make sure that the students report to school.

Otieno further directed chiefs and their assistants, to ensure that all the students who have not reported to school do so within a week.

“Today, we are going to launch a mop-up exercise to make sure that the students or the pupils who are still at home go to school. We cannot have a situation where over 40 per cent of those who are supposed to be in school, are still at home,” Otieno said.

Certain levies

“The chiefs and their assistants will be providing daily data on the number of pupils and students who have been mopped-up and have been taken to school, so that within one week we ensure 100 per cent transition for both Form One and Grade Seven,” he added.

Otieno said there is no reason to deny a child an opportunity to go to school and called on chiefs to always account for the number of school-going children in their areas of jurisdiction.

“The government has released the capitation for all students to schools, so we do not want to hear any stories of certain levies being demanded by the respective schools that deter children from going to school,” the RC said.