The Ministry of Education is seeking support from Members of Parliament in harmonizing hardship areas in the country to protect deserving employees from losing their allowances.
Cabinet Secretary for Education Julius Migos said that the government was determined to streamline extra monthly pay for the teacher which was discriminatory in some areas.
‘’We are going to do affirmative action and we have recommended that we harmonize all these issues relating to hardship areas. As a government, we don’t want a situation where one section is classified as hardship while the other is not hardship and yet they are all the same,” said the CS.
The CS was speaking at Ngenia Comprehensive School in Laikipia County during the presentation of a bus purchased through the National Government –Constituency Development Fund (NG-CDF) over the weekend.
Migos assured teachers that the government would protect them from losing their deserved benefits.On the school feeding programme, the CS disclosed that his Ministry would work with legislators to ensure all deserving learning institutions are not left out.
‘’You find one school is benefiting and the other is not any yet they are in the same area. We are harmonizing all that as a ministry to ensure that all our children especially in areas where they have issues of insecurity resources are given so that we retain them in school,” assured the CS.
Laikipia North MP Sarah Korere while vowing that she would not allow her constituency to be declassified as hardship area also called on the Ministry of Education to address other prevailing challenges in the education sector including registration of learners to the National Education Management System (NEMIS)
Teachers have complained of system failure in the NEMIS online portal where thousands of learners from Grade Three to Nine are yet to be registered as required under the Competent Based Education. The exercise was expected to be completed last week.
CS Migos promised that a new system would be installed soon to resolve the registration hitch being experienced by education managers from across the country.
‘’The issue of NEMIS is being attended to because we can’t have a system that closes out children who we are supposed to support. We are dealing with it,” said the CS.
Migos added that the Ministry was coming up with a new system called Kenya Education Management Information System (KEMIS) expected to be complete in July aimed at addressing prevailing challenges in the education sector.
‘’We have all of us to put our hands together to support our children aimed at ensuring they realize their dreams,” said the CS.
The CS further issued a cheque worth Sh.28 million in bursaries for secondary schools.
By Muturi Mwangi
