•Leaders concerned over the sustainability of the 100 per cent transition programme
•They say the number of girls joining secondary schools has increased but the institutions
Several Northeastern leaders are concerned that the region might not achieve the 100 per cent transition programme from primary to secondary schools due to myriad of problems.
Wajir East MP Rashid Kassim said while he supports the transition he has reservations about its sustainability.
Garissa Knut executive Abdirizak Hussein said despite Garissa county recording an "impressive" 98 per cent transition to secondary, learning institutions still face numerous challenges.
Kassim, who was speaking on Tuesday at Jugbaru Girls' Secondary School, said: “The idea is brilliant but with lack of infrastructure coupled with lack of enough teachers, the programme could run into trouble.”
He said some of the problems include lack of schools, shortage of teachers and poor infrastructure. The transition programme has worsened the situation.
The MP, who started Jugbaru school, lamented the shortage of girls' schools in the area "despite the number of girls joining Form One increasing over the years".
There are 45 secondary schools in Wajir. Only 11 are girls' schools. Three of them (day schools) were established recently with the help of the MP through the Constituency Development Fund kitty.
“There is an urgent need to increase the number of girls' schools in our region. We cannot be talking of promoting girl child education yet the schools are still very few,” Kassim said.
“Having mixed day schools which don’t conform to cultural and religious practices has in itself had a negative impact on our girls," he said.
Hussein said, “I have personally visited some of these schools and the learning environment is just not conducive. The classes are overcrowded making teaching a headache for the teachers.”
He said teachers who left the region after the Garissa University attack have never been replaced despite numerous appeals to and assurances from the national government that security in the region has been restored.
The Knut official said out of the 35 secondary schools in the county, only 13 were for girls.
He urged Education CS nominee George Magoha to give priority to the expansion of infrastructure to accommodate the growing number of students joining secondary schools in the region.
A secondary school teacher who sought anonymity said other pressing issues that need to be addressed are lack of text books, desks, classrooms and boarding facilities.
Hussein cited a school that can accommodate 250 students but under the 100 per cent transition, they were forced to admit 350 students.
“This will in the long run affect the quality of education because the teachers will not have time for a one on one engagement with weak students,” he said.