Education official determined to raise fallen academic giants

The waters are running deeper as far as the performance of schools in Koibatek Sub-County, Baringo County, is concerned. The Sub-County is slowly heading to reclaiming its former glory, especially Baringo High school.

The National School has been leading Baringo County in its performance with a mean grade of 8 points and above for the last three years consecutively.

What’s happening

The newcomer Uzalendo Secondary School is proving to be an education giant, coming second with 7 points and above in the Sub-County.

Though the rest of the schools have shown slight improvements, some still have a lot to prove. Education stakeholders in the Sub-County are at work to turn around the past trailblazers of the Sub-County: Solian Girls High school and Mercy Girls Eldama Ravine. Kabimoi Boys and Poror Boys are among the 44 secondary schools in the Sub-County that need to be worked on.

The secret to the schools’ academic U-turn is credited to the 11 Sub-County Directors of Education in the Sub-County.

Meet Simeon Kemei, an educationist who has taken the steering wheel since October 1, 2019, taking over from David Toroitich. Kemei’s intray is full as he is tasked to establish and ensure the smooth running of education amongst other roles such as co-ordination of co-curricular activities.

Since the start of working at the Sub-County, he credits the steps they have achieved to teamwork amongst the education stakeholders in the sub-county. Unfortunately, he did not enjoy much of the first achievements as the Covid-19 pandemic drained it all when it hit Kenya in March 2020.

Education affected

The teenage pregnancy effect had its equal share in the Sub-County as it affected 21 primary school girls and 180 secondary school girls. By the time schools were opening, some were expecting and others were nursing.

Luckily enough, his office applied the re-admission policy that takes care of nursing mothers. The most affected then was the candidate class, though most candidates sat for their exams. Those who were not yet in form four were given a chance to nurse their children at home for a year and then get re-admitted.

“School closure during the pandemic affected most students who got into drugs and theft since these children are still young,” Kemei expresses his disappointment.

“It was very clear that the parents let us down; it exposed their ignorance and they were not supportive,” he adds.

Kemei says he would partly blame poverty for the early pregnancies especially given that the area was not badly affected in terms of food production.

Challenges

He says the increase of informal settlements around the outskirts of Eldama Ravine town and various centers has contributed to various vices that are posing risks and challenges to school-going students and pupils. Most were influenced by peer pressure.

Citing examples, he says it gets serious to a point where head teachers have to involve him to solve serious issues that require input from the security team. He says the 100% transition policy has assisted learners in remaining in school.

In most cases, parents in the informal settlement in Koibatek Sub-County involve themselves in small businesses, the worst being the illicit brew businesses that have been thoroughly fought by the Deputy County Commissioner, Omari Ali, thus the challenge to raise fees.

Drug peddling, he says, has become a norm, with the drug barons involving young children and stealing their innocence, leading to theft and other social ills in the society.

The government has managed the challenge of keeping students in schools by paying KSh 22,244 per year for students in Day Secondary Schools.

Kemei says they are only supposed to pay for their lunch program according to what the school Boards of Management decide, depending on affordability. He is keen to point out that the critical issue behind government support is to keep students in schools.

The availability of teachers to ensure the smooth completion of the syllabus is one of the key components to ensuring an effective curriculum implementation. Kemei says that his assessment of teachers upon being posted to Koibatek Sub-County has revealed that they want to be posted to hardship areas.

With the current social ills affecting students and pupils at home, such as sexual abuse and gender-based violence, he says he has ensured each school has a guidance and counseling department.

Each school also has a Chaplain to ensure the children get the help they desire in schools to keep them active and attended to mentally, physically and spiritually. He says such cases arise more from dysfunctional families.

Some families have feckless parents, and some children are orphaned, thus cases of child abuse occur.

“I applaud Eldama Ravine Children’s home for the good work they do; Bishop Kigen has always reported to me on issues affecting the children. Whenever he needs admission to high schools I help willingly because he is coming through for the rescued children in the society,” recounts Kemei.

“Unfortunately, we have no rescue centers in Koibatek Sub-County,” he laments.

Concerning the school feeding programs, the Sub-County receives a share of beans and porridge flour for primary schools once in a while since the Sub-County is not listed under hardship areas. However, he names areas like Kiplombe which need assistance because of the encroaching desertification.

“Concerning the gazettement of the Sub-County as hardship, I have already discussed it with the area Member of Parliament, Musa Sirma.

On Co-Curricular activities, he says he is proud of the talent displayed by schools during national events when called upon. The recent fete the students participated in was during Mashujaa Day, celebrated at the Eldama Ravine Gardens square.

Students from Solian Girls High school led the police band in the parade match, playing their musical instruments, evidence of how forward their music classes are.

Schools like Green View Academy had young kids performing the trendy ‘Vaida’ by Harrie Richie in their drama song, giving parents a run for their money.

Below are the schools that graced the Mashujaa celebrations, showcasing the rich talent behind the school-going children.

A quick look

The Sub-County has 93 public primary schools and 19 private ones, with 44 Secondary Schools. Under Kemei’s leadership, the KCSE 2021 performance saw Koibatek Sub-County be in the third position, an improvement from the previous 5th position in Baringo County at large.

In Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education 2021, County schools like Uzalendo School came in second in the Sub-County with a mean score of 7.57 after Baringo High School, a National School, which had a mean of 8.86. Third was Mercy Girls Eldama Ravine with a mean score of 5.85, Poror High school with 5.55, followed by Solian Girls, Kabimoi Boys and Saos boys with 5.0605, 4.8922, and 4.5859, respectively.

For seven years, primary schools’ performance has led in Baringo county sub-counties. Kemei says he is not yet there.

As for the Mercy Girls Eldama Ravine he says they are working hand in hand with the sponsor that is the Catholic Church, to ensure the school rekindles its performance. He says the school was better with its KCSE 2021 results, it managed to send 52 students to University while Baringo high school had 28 straight A’s and sent 94% of their students to various Universities.

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The journey to greatness is progressive and Kemi knows too well that teamwork makes the dream work. Together with the Sub County’s Education stakeholders, he is confident that the dream will work.