Concern over low students’ population in Trans Mara schools

Narok, Thursday May 11, 2023

KNA by Ann Salaton

Education stakeholders in Narok County have raised concern over the low enrolment of students in most secondary schools in Trans Mara West Sub County.

Led by Narok County Commissioner Isaac Masinde and County Director of Education Apuko Apollo, the stakeholders observed that many parents preferred taking their children to schools outside the county which are deemed to perform better in National examination.

Commissioner Masinde cited an example of Kilgoris Boys’ high school which was upgraded to National School status some few years back but has maintained a low population despite its elevated status.

He said the school has an average of 100 boys per class which is far below its capacity of at least 300 boys per class.

“Kilgoris Boys’ high school and Ole Tipis girls are the only two national schools we have in the county. The government has invested a lot of resources in the two schools to give them a national outlook but sadly, parents prefer taking their children to schools in other counties,” he said.

The education director reiterated the commissioner’s sentiments asking parents to take advantage of the many resources in Kilgoris boys and enroll their children in the school.

He observed that the national school only admitted about 100 boys this year, wondering why parents whose children had performed well had to travel to neighbouring counties like Kisii, Bomet and Kericho to search for schools yet there was a National school near in their localities.

“The teachers we have here were trained in the same institutions with the teachers in those other counties. We want more parents to bring their children to schools near their homes so that we can grow our county,” he said.

Other schools with very low capacity despite having enough infrastructure are Shartuka Boys and Enosaeen high school.

Some of the parents who spoke to KNA cited indiscipline and rampant student riots as the main reason they preferred schools outside the county.

In the last years’ National examination, Kilgoris boys had a mean grade of 6.3 points.

Courtesy; K.N.A