Govt Faulted For Neglecting ECDE In Marginalised Areas.
The national and county governments have been chastised for failing to invest in early childhood development education (ECDE) in pastoral areas, with stakeholders and leaders demanding that counties in the North Rift build more pre-primary schools.
Thousands of school-aged children in the region remain at home due to a lack of ECDE centers and long distances to available ones, particularly along the borders of West Pokot, Turkana, Elgeyo Marakwet, and Baringo, as well as near the Ugandan border.
Because of insecurity, these areas lack such educational facilities.
The Kenya National Union of Teachers (Knut) has expressed concern about the situation in the region, citing funding constraints as one of the reasons.
Union officials have urged national and county governments to significantly increase funding for early childhood education, particularly in marginalized areas.
Early childhood education, according to Mr. Martin Sembelo, a Knut executive member representing the Rift Valley region, should be prioritized, particularly in disadvantaged communities.
Early childhood education is a devolved function, and the Constitution requires counties to build centers closer to the people to prepare children for primary school.
He claims that county governments’ funding for ECDE centers is insufficient.
Mr. Sembelo, the West Pokot Knut secretary, said in his Kapenguria office that about 1,000 school-age children in the area stay at home because there are no schools.
“The area requires urgent ECDE centers as it used to experience frequent cattle rustling as well as border disputes between the Pokot and Turkana communities, but now there is peace and all is calm,” he said.
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Many parents in pastoralist communities, he said, had embraced education, and the number of children enrolling in school had increased, necessitating the improvement of ECDE infrastructure.
As one solution to the problem, Kacheliba MP Mark Lomunokol proposed that the county and national governments establish mobile schools in remote pastoral areas.
Govt Faulted For Neglecting ECDE In Marginalised Areas
