The Teachers Service Commission has been urged to recruit more tutors and improve infrastructure in Mandera schools for better performance.
Mandera executive secretary for Kenya National Union of Teachers Kullow Sheikh said shortage of teachers was to blame for the poor showing of public schools against their private counterparts in this year's KCPE exam results.
Candidates from private schools dominated top positions in the results released by Education Cabinet Secretary George Magoha on Monday.
Sheikh on Thursday told the Star the trend can only be reversed by improving infrastructure and employing more teachers.
The unionist said Mandera has very few schools that are sparsely placed. The institutions do not have enough classrooms for learners.
Sheikh said the performance of those sitting national exams from the region will remain poor not because the students are not bright but due to a combination of factors including insecurity.
“I am not surprised that our children in public schools performed dismally. It is a song we have been singing for a long time that without teachers and proper infrastructure, candidates in public schools will always post poor results,” he said.
Mandera borders Somalia and has never fully recovered from a spate of terror attacks targeting non-locals which started in 2013. Many teachers fled leading to a serious shortage of tutors.
Despite the dominant results from private schools, Lafey Primary, a public school produced the counties best student. It was the second time the school was producing the top candidate in the county.
Khalid Yussuf emerged tops after scoring 407 marks. He was followed by Abdiraziz Adan who got 404 marks and Burhan Khalif (400). The school had a mean score of 293 marks out of 500.
The trio said they want to become doctors to improve basic healthcare in the region.
The school's headteacher Khalif Ahmed decried insecurity in the area, saying teachers have to change their sleeping areas every night to avoid al Shabaab attacks. The school is just about five kilometres away from the Somalia border.
"Apart from insecurity, we are in dire need of classrooms, more teachers as we have only ten tutors against a student population of 1,230," Ahmed said.
edited by peter obuya
