Poor performance in national examinations is a result of failure by parents to monitor the progress of their children in school, wife of the Wajir governor has said.
Kheira Mohamed on Monday said parents have abducted their duties and left the education of their children to teachers. She spoke at Wajir Girls Secondary School during the institution's annual general meeting.
Mohamed said parents should always visit their children's schools to know how they are performing by speaking to their teachers.
“That is one area we have failed as parents. Some parents have never visited their children from the day they took them to school for the first time,” she said.
Mohamed told students to respect their teachers and uphold high standards of discipline.
"Students look for scapegoats when they don’t perform well. With hard work and discipline any candidate from any part of the country whether from Mandera or Nairobi has the potential to excel, irrespective of the school he or she is in,” she said.
She said although retrogressive cultural practices such as FGM and early marriages are reducing, they are still widely practised in rural areas.
These negative cultural practices have resulted in low enrolment of girls in schools. Chiefs should do more to ensure that children attend school, she said.
"Our girls are serving our people diligently in the county in the medical, engineering and teaching fields. I want to salute everyone who has been instrumental in this admirable journey," Mohamed said.
“When you educate a girl you educate a family. A mother plays a very integral role in the upbringing of children in a family unit,” she said.
Mohamed said girls should be given an equal opportunity to get an education because they have proven that they can perform well.
She told parents to apply for the recently launched Sh82 million county bursary so that no child from a from poor background drops out of school.
(Edited by P. Wanambisi)
