Four counties enroll more girls than boys

Written By:Carol Kamau/KNA ,    Posted: Wed, Dec 28, 2011

Turkana County is among the counties where girls' candidature in KCPE is far below the enrolment of boys(File Picture) Kenya's quest for gender equity in basic education on a national scale appears to be on the right track going by the results of this year's KCPE examination. Of the 776,584 candidates who sat the examination, 401,184 were boys representing 51.6% while 375,400 were girls representing 48.4%. Releasing the results on Wednesday at Mitihani house, Education, Minister Professor Sam Ongeri however noted that the progression of girls in some counties has been compromised by socio-cultural challenges. He asked leaders whose Counties lead in gender inequality in schools to take advantage of the Free Primary Education to address the imbalance. "Since counties are smaller units when compared to provinces in terms of administration, I am urging leaders, communities and stakeholders from these 14 counties to make targeted efforts towards ensuring gender parity." Said Ongeri Ongeri said 14 counties recorded low candidature of girls while four counties namely Nyandarua, Embu, Nairobi and Vihiga recorded low candidature of boys. Turkana County is among the counties where girls' candidature in KCPE is far below the enrolment of boys. "I am fully aware that some of the challenges associated with taking girls to school are cultural and social barriers especially in certain communities, but I urge such communities to note that there will be no meaningful development when one part of their population that is the girls is left behind." Other counties which recorded low turnout of girls as compared to boys were Kwale, Tana River, Marsabit, Isiolo, Samburu, West Pokot, Kajiabo, Narok, Homabay  and Migori. Following the dispensation of the new constitution the ministry of education has done county based analysis contrary to previous years where examination has been based on provinces. Enrollment of new pupils has improved nationally to 96% compared to 85% in 2010. In SACMEQ results Kenya has been ranked number five in literacy levels with a score of 543 behind Tanzania Seychelles Mauritius and Swaziland. The minister attributed the low ranking in literacy to adulteration of Kiswahili and English with more people preferring to talk "Sheng".