Lari MP urges teachers to help improve school performance

Lari MP Mburu Kahangara has asked teachers to work hard to ensure students excel in their national examinations.

This comes even as the government continues to collect views in readiness to review the Competency-Based Curriculum

The legislator said some years ago, the best student at Kamuchege Secondary School scored a D plus in the Kenya Certificate of Secondary School Education exams.

“This is wastage of a generation. Can you imagine what others had if the best had a D plus, and which courses they went to study or even where they went. They had classrooms with trained teachers and their parents had paid school fee," Kahangara said.

The lawmaker, however, lauded the school, saying there was an academic improvement in the school, even though the grades were still low.

He spoke on Monday when he met all secondary school principals and the director of education Omari Borura at White House hall.

The MP was also accompanied by curriculum development officers and Kiambu county chairman of Parents Association Samuel Wanjema.

Kahangara urged the school heads to open up on matters involving improving the quality of education, the weaknesses and challenges they experiene, and parents and leaders can intervene.

He said he will work with them to see an improvement.

“While we improve the mean score of the subcounty, a lot of students will get grades that will assist them to go to the next level of education. The large tracks of lands which people inherited are no more with the current birthrates," Kahangara said. 

Borura said the forum was important because it provides school heads and teachers to discuss the challenges and solutions to the problem.

The director urged the principals to speak out so that they can get help where necessary to post excellent academic results.

Gitithia Mixed Secondary school principal James Nyaga said some of the challenges secondary schools face include poor support from parents, negative attitude from the society, drug abuse and slow payment of school fees.

“We need to sensitise parents and the society so that they can take responsibility of their children. Some are reckless. Once candidates registers for KCSE, some go away and come to sit for exam. They stay at home where parents are and they cannot ask them or push them to school,” he said.

Wanjema said some students abuse drugs since their parents not only abuse them, but sell them.

He also urged the ministry of education to partner with leaders and parents to start motivation exercises.

“We need to motivate parents to support their children and schools, students so that they can work hard as well as teachers since they do so much work of educating our children” Wanjema said.

“How can someone sell bhang and alcoholic drinks at home where you have youthful children and imagine that they won’t abuse them?” he said.

(edited by Amol Awuor)