The National government has been hailed for its unwavering commitment to uplifting education standards across the country.
The National Assembly Speaker, Moses Wetang’ula, says the government has endeavoured to ensure access to quality education by availing proper infrastructure, noting that such investments are key to empowering young people and driving national development.
Wetang’ula spoke during commissioning of a Sh24 million modern storey tuition block, complete with eight classrooms and a home science laboratory at St. Francis Kolongolo Secondary School in Kwanza Constituency, funded by the local National Government Constituencies Development Fund (NG-CDF).
The Speaker lauded the project, noting that besides improving learning conditions for the students, it would also boost academic performance at the school.
Consequently, Wetang’ula emphasised the importance of development that directly impacts the lives of citizens while urging leaders across the country to move away from political confrontations and instead focus on tangible projects that can transform the lives of the people.
“We must prioritize service delivery. Kenyans want to see real change through development, but not constant political bickering and insults,” he said.
Acknowledging the government’s efforts to improve staffing in academic institutions by employing thousands of teachers over the past four years, the Speaker bemoaned that rural schools are still faced with a big shortage of staff compared to schools in urban set-ups, attributing this worrying trend to the unfair distribution of personnel.
He challenged the Teachers Service Commission to come up with an immediate lasting solution, which would ensure a fair playing field for learners across the country.
“Equal access to quality education is key to national development and because of this, we should all ensure that no child should be disadvantaged simply because of studying in rural areas.”
“We are therefore challenging the Ministry of Education to ensure fairness in teacher deployment. Let those concerned prioritize rural schools when posting teachers,” he added, noting that preference for urban areas has created a major imbalance.
Replying to school heads from the region who had complained that poor staffing had added an extra burden on the already strained budgets, where they are forced to source more teachers on Board Of Management terms (BOM), Wetang’ula concurred that if the government addressed the issue, schools would redirect the resources to development and performance.
The function was also attended by Webuye East Legislator, Martin Pepela, who commended Kwanza MP Ferdinand Wanyonyi in absentia for prioritizing development projects despite experiencing health challenges.
Others present were Environment, Climate Change and Forestry Cabinet Secretary Dr. Deborah Barasa, who pledged the government’s support of fruit seedlings to schools, noting that the initiative will help achieve the national 15 Billion Tree target by 2032, besides promoting environmental conservation.
By Isaiah Nayika and Winnie Jelagat
