The national government has been urged to devolve funds to the county governments so that they can construct extra streams in schools to cater for over 150,000 students who sat KCPE this year and who aren’t certain if they will join Form one due to limited space.
While celebrating the success of their son who scored 411 marks from Hill School in Kakamega and has secured a chance at Alliance Boys High School, Prince Daniel Simiyu’s mother Felistas Pauline Okumu, who is also a principal at Tabani Secondary school in Bungoma, said that it is too discouraging to both parents and students to be involved in a situation like that, where there are shortages.
She said that the national government should devolve funds and allow county governments to come to build extra streams of classes in schools so as to take care of the shortage.
She applauded the Cabinet Secretary for Education Fred Matiangi for being fair to students in public and private schools during form one selection.
Felistas said that if it were not done the right way, his son Prince would miss an opportunity at Alliance due to corruption.
This was echoed by Simiyu’s father Wandabi Barasa who said that he was satisfied with the way the exercise was conducted.
He urged the CS to keep up the spirit to ensure that he tailors the education sector in line.
Wandabi who is a principal at Lunyu Secondary school in Kakamega county, however, disagreed with the CS’s idea of demoting principals whose schools won’t perform well. According to him, performance depends on various factors among them the students and their parents.
He gave an example of a student who absents himself from school for the entire term and shows up at the time of the national examinations.
Wandabi suggested that all these factors must first of all be considered before a decision is taken against the teacher.
He further advised parents to invest in the education of their children to guarantee a brighter future.