Plans are underway to encourage parents to attend school meetings.
This
is after observations that schools which performed poorly in last
year’s KCPE examination had very low attendance by parents.
Kirinyaga
county, a constant top performer, had the highest number of parents
taking a keen interest in their children’s education, a report says.
It
was followed by Nyeri, Makueni, Garissa, Baringo and Nyandarua.
Consequently, all these counties had a mean mark of 250 and above out of
a possible 500. Only Garissa had a mean mark of below 130.
According
to the report, Kilifi, Kitui, Kakamega, Mandera and Tana River are
counties where parents have the lowest interest in the performance of
their children.
The mean mark of all these counties, except Kakamega, was below 250.
During
the launch of the report in Nairobi yesterday, the Education Cabinet
Secretary Jacob Kaimenyi advised parents to monitor their children.
“Our
greatest responsibility as parents is our children. Even when we are
looking for money, we should also prioritise visiting them during school
meetings and academic clinics,” Prof Kaimenyi said.
School
Card Report 2013 sampled 5,000 schools and found that where parental
responsibility was above average, there was a significant improvement in
marks.
The report also examines other parameters that
may determine a pupil’s performance. They include school safety and
protection, access to textbooks and roles of children in school.
Mandera is the worst in school safety and protection. Other unsafe counties are Tana River, Kitui, Kilifi and Kwale.
“Most
schools in those areas do not have windows or secure doors. One then
wonders whether the money we give headteachers for repairs and
maintenance line some people’s pockets,” said Prof Kaimenyi.
The
research also sampled the dropout rate in primary schools. It shows
that more boys than girls abandon classes. Taita Taveta County has the
largest number of boy dropouts who go out to mine.
Elgeyo Marakwet had the lowest dropout rate with only two per cent of boys dropping out of primary school.
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