With the government setting its focus on a 100% transition of students from primary school to secondary school, the Education Ministry has launched a Last Mile Campaign to trace the qualified students who haven’t joined secondary school yet and enable their successful process. Speaking at Parklands, Nairobi, Education CS Amina Mohamed said that the Ministry has reported an 87% Form One reporting rate, which equates to 895,987 students who have been enrolled, “Although this enrolment is seven percentage points better than last year, the Ministry is determined to do everything possible to realize 100% transition,” she said.
According to the Education CS, 130,000 students haven’t yet reported to school. It was noted that some of the issues which have hindered students from joining Form One include costs of secondary education, teenage pregnancies, early marriages, insecurity, inhibitive cultural practices, and extreme poverty in households. She added that data packets have been prepared with the actual names and the locations of the students who haven’t joined school yet, with the aim of personalizing the Last Mile exercise right to the individual. She added that steps have been taken to ensure girls who were affected by teenage pregnancies don’t miss the transition, “I have directed education officials in our Counties to map out the 2018 KCPE candidates who became mothers in the course of the year and make special arrangements for them to join Form One,” she said, “This data is now available and special focus will be paid to these young mothers.