Nyeri town Member of Parliament Duncan Mathenge has joined the list of county leaders calling for urgent action to be taken to tackle the declining rates of enrolment in schools in Nyeri County.
Mathenge said it was disheartening to see high levels of inequalities in the learning institutions which he noted raise serious concerns over the learning standards in the county.
The legislator noted some of the schools in Nyeri have less than 50 students while in other schools, the population of teachers is higher than that of the learners raising questions about the utilisation of resources as well as the sustainability of the affected schools.
“How prudent is it to have 12 teachers in a school with less than 50 students?” Posed the MP.
“It is wasteful. We are therefore not getting the maximum value since those teachers are not teaching the maximum number of lessons they are supposed to teach in a week or in a month. This is a conversation we must have as leaders ,” he said.
A report released by the Nyeri County Education Board on Wednesday shows worrying statistics on student enrolment in public schools in the county.
The survey which was conducted in all six constituencies collected the data on student enrolment in public Primary Schools, Junior Schools, Senior Schools and Secondary Schools.
The report paints a grim picture in Senior School enrolment in four out of the six constituencies.
An analysis of the findings shows that Kieni has the highest number of Senior Schools with low student enrolment with 29 schools in the constituency having less than 30 students. Mathira with 21 schools and Tetu with 20 schools have the second and third highest number of Senior Schools with less than 30 Grade 10 students respectively.
The situation is wanting such that some schools do not have a single Grade 10 learner admitted in the institutions.
For instance in Mathira constituency, Gakuyu, Gatundu and Gaturiri Senior Schools did not have a single Grade 10 learner. The situation is similar in Nyeri town constituency where Ithenguri Secondary, only one Grade 10 learner reported to the school during the transition of the pioneer class of Grade 10 learners early this year.
In Othaya constituency, Gatugi mixed day secondary school and Kabebero secondary also do not have a single Grade 10 learner while only one student was admitted in Grade 10 at Irindi Secondary School.
Under the Junior School category, the survey revealed that Mukurweini had a total of 16 schools with less than 50 learners. Mathira, Kieni tied in the second position with 15 schools each while Othaya had 14 Junior Schools with less than 50 students.
According to the findings of the report, Mukurweini tops the list of public primary schools with low enrolment with 20 primary schools in the constituency having a student population of less than 80.Mathira, Kieni and Tetu are ranked second each having 11 Primary Schools with less than 80 students.
The report also shows the inequalities in the distribution of teachers in some of the schools where in some cases the number of teachers was almost equal to the number of learners.
For instance Kiamutiga Primary School in Tetu does not have a single JS teacher deployed to teach the nine Junior School learners in the institution. The same constituency also has seven Junior Schools with between six to nine teachers, surprisingly the Junior School enrolment in each of the schools is less than 10.
In Othaya constituency, Othaya Rehabilitation primary school only one teacher deployed to teach the 27 learners enrolled in the school.
Mathenge spoke at Raimukurwe Senior School where he delivered a 33-seater school bus. The school was gifted the bus after it posted remarkable results during the 2023 Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education something that Mathenge noted had contributed to improved enrolment of Grade 10 learners this year.
“When performance improves, the confidence of parents in the learning institutions shifts and as result, Riamukurwe has the highest number of students in all the day schools in Nyeri town constituency. While schools are struggling to get students, Raimukurwe last year still managed to get 83 students in Grade 10 again the highest number in the constituency,” said Mathenge.
He said that stakeholders in the education sector together with the leaders must urgently come together to address the situation. He said that the stakeholders will be exploring the possibility of redeployment of teachers and learners to ensure proper utilisation of school resources by both the teachers and learners.
“These schools were all put up by the community. But the community in Nyeri must now accept that we must have the conversation,” he said.
The legislator however noted that the solution should not be simply closing down the under populated schools but efforts should focus on strengthening the institutions so that they can attract more learners.
His sentiments come a few days after Nyeri Governor Dr Mutahi Kahiga called upon education stakeholders to partner in addressing the declining standards of learning in the county.
Speaking during a County Education Board forum, Dr Kahiga said the falling enrolment levels in Senior Secondary Schools in the county are alarming and should be treated as a matter of urgency.
He said the situation was worrying at a time when both the National and County governments had invested both finances and physical infrastructure to help improve the learning environment for both learners and teachers.
“This is not merely about numbers. It is about ensuring that the investments made by the Government, communities, sponsors and parents are fully utilized for the benefit of our children. Nyeri has a proud history of academic excellence, discipline, strong school leadership and dedicated teachers. We must work together to reclaim and strengthen that legacy,” he said in a Facebook post.
“Every stakeholder has a role to play, including Members of Parliament, Members of the County Assembly, education officers, principals, teachers, Boards of Management, parents, communities and sponsors,” he added.
To address the challenge, the Governor called for an audit of the existing gaps in public schools to help unearth the root cause of the problem.
In addition, he said any deliberations and recommendations must however be guided by evidence, equity, sustainability and above all the best interests of the learners.
He promised to partner with like-minded stakeholders in ensuring the county reclaims its position nationally as a county synonymous with quality education and academic excellence.
“We must assess each affected school, understand the reasons behind declining enrolment and develop practical, evidence-based solutions. Some schools can be revitalized and repositioned as centres of excellence.
In cases where senior-school enrolment may not be sustainable, existing infrastructure can be explored for alternative productive use, including supporting junior secondary education. Our decisions must be guided by evidence, equity, sustainability and, above all, the best interests of our children,” emphasized Dr Kahiga.
By Wangari Mwangi and Samuel Maina
