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KAJIADO’S JOURNEY TO ENABLING ACCESS TO QUALITY EDUCATION FOR ALL

Kajiado’s Journey To Enabling Access To Quality Education For All

Kajiado, a pastoralist county, had lagged behind in education due to a cocktail of historical marginalisation, inequalities, and harsh climatic conditions that hindered access to learning. The transition of pupils from one level to another was below average. There was heavy wastage among graduates of each academic level, as they were unable to proceed with education. At pre-primary school level, malnutrition and general food insecurity at home hindered many children from enrolling. Others dropped out. Some got lost in harmful cultural practices, such as early marriages and FGM. To address this, the County Government introduced fortified porridge in ECDE centres to encourage learners to stay in school. This nutritional porridge benefits 40,000 children every year.

At the same time, the County Government engaged more than 700 teachers on permanent and pensionable terms, thereby improving the teacher-pupil ratio from 1:46 to 1:38, in the last five years. The County Government expanded and modernised ECDE facilities with more than 170 of them being operational. This ongoing expansion increased enrolment from 37,687 pupils in 2017, to 41,005 today. Up the academic ladder, the County Government strived to keep thousands of secondary, college/ university students in school through issuance of bursaries and scholarships. It reformed the bursary issuance formula by decentralising it to ward level. Through the new scheme, Kajiado County raised the number of beneficiaries from 3,000 in 2017 to the current 10,000. So far, 35,000 students have benefited, in addition to 430 students who are on full scholarships. The bursary kitty rose from Ksh40 million in 2017 to Ksh175 million this year. The County Government also supported renovation and construction of new primary schools where students were learning in deplorable conditions. In Kajiado East alone, it constructed three complete schools from scratch: Ilkulunyeti, Isinya township, and Dr Likimani. This gave an academic lifeline to more than 3,000 pupils

At secondary school level, the County Government supported the construction of nine dormitories, six laboratories and administration blocks, and three multi-purpose halls that also serve as dining halls. All these efforts are geared towards creating an enabling environment for learning. The County Government has gone a notch higher, bringing together representatives from the Ministry of Education and Teachers Service Commission, and all principals in the region, chairmen of the boards of management and parents associations, to strategies for improving the grades students. These stakeholders’ mantra is “Grade si Grade Tu”. WORLD FOOD SAFETY DAY NYERI COUNTY Kajiado’s journey to enabling access to quality education for all Theme: 10 Years of Devolutuion: The Present and the Future COUNTY GOVERNMENT OF KAJIADO An equipped workshop at Namelok Vocational Training Centre. Governor Lenku during one of the many bursary and scholarship issuance ceremonies in Kajiado North. Governor Lenku joins ECD pupils for a cup of fortified porridg