- He said that no teacher has a right to send a child home, even as he promised tough disciplinary action from the Ministry for those who will defy the order.
- Magoha said that a secondary school teacher from Matiku Secondary School in Makueni County who had sent a student home would be punished by the Teachers Service Commission.
Image: LABAN WALLOGA
Education Cabinet Secretary, Professor George Magoha, Saturday, fired another warning to teachers sending learners home for fees.
He was speaking in Mombasa when inspecting the new classrooms for the junior secondary school at Changamwe and Bomu secondary schools.
"The economy is extremely difficult for parents. Most parents are struggling and so don't send a child home between now and the end of the year. If you do so we are going to act,” Magoha cautioned.
He said that no teacher has a right to send a child home, even as he promised tough disciplinary action from the ministry for those who will defy the order.
Magoha said that a secondary school teacher from Matiku Secondary School in Makueni county who had sent a student home would be punished by the Teachers Service Commission.
The principal, the CS said, sent the student home to collect Sh1, 000 for remedial classes.
"That's robbery and it must stop. I can assure you that the teacher will be punished," he said.
He lauded the fast progress in the construction of the junior secondary school classrooms and promised that they will be ready in less than two weeks.
"We have less than 1,000 classrooms to complete. The majority of these 1,000 classrooms are at the wall level and I want to assure the public that we are going to move with speed to ensure they are completed by Monday next week," Magoha said.
He said Nyeri, Mandera and Migori counties have fully completed the new classrooms, while others are at 97 per cent.
Magoha said the ministry is experiencing hiccups in Nairobi, Mombasa, and Kwale.
"There is no way a county like Nandi with raised topography is ready to finish this project while a county like Mombasa which is flat is at 70 per cent," Magoha said.
He promised that his ministry is working to ensure that all Kenyan children, regardless of where they come from, get into the classrooms.
Besides classes, he said children are ready to take their exams and encouraged teachers to help them in revision.
He said that most of the schools have completed the syllabus and are already revising it.
"It is upon the teachers now to help them apply the knowledge they have been taught to revise and then the exam will be a walk-over," Magoha said.
In addition, the CS said that his ministry was keen to regain normalcy in the basic education sub-sector by January so that they can hand over a clean and organised ministry to the next government.
The CS advised children who are set to join junior secondary schools to select schools that are near their homes.
"Let the teachers, parent and the child agree on the best option. For example, there is no need to apply to go to Alliance at age 6, yet you can wait until you are 10. The time for that will come," he said.
He encouraged all the stakeholders in the education sector to participate in making the CBC curriculum a success.
Magoha said he has done everything to move the curriculum to the next level and urged teachers and parents not to give up on it.
"Where we have reached now let's not talk about changing the CBC but how we can manage it together," he said.
(Edited by Tabnacha O)