Monday, January 16, 2012

Parents doubt new national schools



  SHARE BOOKMARKPRINTEMAILRATING
By BENJAMIN MUINDI bmuindi@ke.nationmedia.com
Posted  Sunday, January 15  2012 at  22:30
Some parents are hesitant to send their children to the recently elevated national schools.
The parents expressed concern that the 30 schools were not as good as the 18 earlier national ones when facilities and teachers were considered.
Those who spoke on condition of anonymity because their children are yet to report to the schools, asked the government to speed up the upgrade programme.
Cause for concern
“We understand that the government has not yet given all the money for rehabilitation of the institutions and this is cause for concern,” one parent said.
According to Education permanent secretary James Ole Kiyiapi, Sh12.5 million has been disbursed to the schools to renovate classrooms and boarding facilities.
However, the initial plan was to disburse between Sh25 million and Sh30 million to each of the institutions.
He said that the schools were selected because they consistently recorded high performance in the Form Four examinations.
Six thousand students were on Friday selected to join the schools in a move aimed at increasing slots in the national schools for top performers in the Standard Eight examinations. (READ: Public schools get 6,600 Form I slots)
“This will enhance access to education and quality of education, and ease the heavy pressure on demand for Form Ones places in the existing national schools,” said Prof Kiyiapi.
Some 3,240 boys and 2,760 girls will be admitted to the schools. At the same time, the Teachers Service Commission is yet to send 12 new teachers to the 30 schools to meet the rising population of students.
But the Kenya National Union of Teachers asked parents to have confidence in the schools and take their children to the institutions.
Union chairman Wilson Sossion said that if parents boycott them they would be sending a negative signal over the programme to upgrade the schools.
“We are also urging the government to increase the number of teachers in the schools as well as funds to upgrade their facilities,” said Mr Sossion.
Kenya Private Schools Association chairman John Mwai has also urged the government to gazette the schools as well as the county ones (earlier called provincial schools).

No comments:

Post a Comment