Kiambu Sub-County education office together with a mentorship group encompassing some teachers from the sub-county is holding a public drive for donations towards improving the day schools’ performance within the sub-county.
The drive, running from 28th July until 15th August, is seeking revision books from well-wishers, motivational books and any other material that can assist the young people embrace education and improve on their performance.
Speaking to KNA in her office, Roselyn Litaba, Kiambu Sub-County Education Director said that the performance for the day schools in the Sub- County has been affected by Covid-19 among other challenges.
“Day schools face a lot of challenges. Our performance has not been good especially after covid-19, we had an extraordinary number of low grades,” she noted.
According to Litaba, out of 866 students who sat for 2021 KCSE examinations in the sub-county, 94 percent scored grades D and E, with 267 scoring E, 361 D- and 130 scoring D.
She called upon the community to support the students in improving performance by giving moral, physical and emotional support.
“For our performance to be improved, we need the students, teachers, parents and the people surrounding the students to be positive to help them achieve their goals. We also need the good will of the authority, church, business community and people around to give their support” added Litaba.
With the consent of Kiambu sub-county education office, the mentorship group conducted a research in nine day schools in the sub-county through interviews, questionnaires and open forums with students to establish the reason behind poor grades.
Nelson Chege, the chairperson of the mentorship group, told KNA that some of the contributing factors towards bad grades include lack of adequate revision materials and learning tools as well as lack of fully operational guidance and counseling departments.
“Most learners in the schools do not have what is required for them to have effective learning in a classroom such as calculators, four figure latest edition, mathematical sets, set book guides, dictionaries, geographical globes, laboratory equipment, teacher manuals, practical student manuals, kamusi, and Bibles,” he said.
He explained that it is with that in mind that they have now decided to appeal to the public and well-wishers through the Kiambu Sub-County education office for donations
He explained that through the research done as a group, they are recommending that the education office hold sessions to engage parents where they will be guided on the importance of education for their children and how it can help them in future, so that they engage their children more often.
“Most learners we talked to felt that it is not necessary for one to undergo studies in order for them to be successful. With this notion most learners do not put effort in learning and this results in poor performance,” said Chege.
Premature involvement into business by learners, for example boda boda, Tuk tuk and car wash for boys, salon and babysitting for girls, has also affected performance of the learners in the area as most of them exhibit poor concentration in studies.
To curb this, Chege said that they have appealed to the education office to come up with a plan that involves members from the law enforcement sector together with the education sector, to reach and create awareness in the society in not employing children labour before the age of 18 years.
So far, Chege said that since the driver started last week, they have received materials worth Sh 30,000 that include physics KCSE revision booklets, guides books, motivational books, poetry revision books, rulers and pens.
Those willing to donate have been asked to take their contribution to the Kiambu Sub-County education office or Kiambu high school.
