Gov't hints at merging day secondary schools amid low enrolment

Speaking during the Elimu Mashinani forum in Nairobi on Tuesday evening, Education Cabinet Secretary Julius Migos Ogamba said the ministry will audit transition numbers in senior schools, with a view to merging institutions that continue to record low enrolment.

At Kithiriti Senior School in Mwea, Kirinyaga County, the scale of the challenge is evident. The school principal, Newton Mugo Muchira, was seen engaging the only two students, one boy and one girl, who have reported for Grade 10.

Out of a projected intake of 100 learners, the two are the only ones who have begun classes, while three others have reported registering but have yet to start learning.

“We opened with very high hopes of getting many students. We have four empty classes. Form one has no students, form two has no students, and others are extra, but to our disappointment, the students are not coming,” said Muchira.

Muchira said that despite personally leading sensitisation campaigns in churches and other public forums to attract learners, the efforts have yielded little success.

He attributed the low turnout to parents’ limited understanding of the new education pathways, inadequate facilities in some day schools, and the option that allows students to change their school selections.

“If our mother primary school cannot give us students, where have they gone? I have four classrooms but no students. We have a fully equipped laboratory, the TSC has deployed adequate teachers in the school, so we do not have a problem with teaching. The problem is that we do not have students,” he said.

A similar situation has been reported at Salama Senior School in Makindu, Makueni County. The school had projected an intake of more than 200 Grade 10 students but has so far admitted only six, two boys and four girls.

“We realise that most of the students who came here all requested for transfer. The ones that we were given are yet to report. Initially, we were given around 228,” said Salama Secondary School principal Abdi Mohammed.

The Ministry of Education says such challenges can only be addressed through the merging of schools to ensure equitable access to quality education.

“What it means for us as a ministry is to sit down and make a determination on whether we should continue holding these schools as schools, or whether we should invest more in the schools that students require so that they can have all the facilities they need. In other words, can we merge the schools so that the schools with the required facilities are strengthened,” said Ogamba.

Citing Raganga Secondary School in Kisii County, where all 18 candidates scored between grade D and E in last year’s KCSE, Ogamba said timely intervention could have changed the outcome. The school has recorded poor KCSE results for the past five years, with between 14 and 18 candidates sitting the exams annually.

He said the transition report will enable the government to audit enrolment numbers and initiate the school merger process.

“We are not going to be bullied to have what we call patriotic schools, where anyone comes and says because I have the capacity to build a classroom or a school, let this be a school called my name or my late mother, which is not a school. We need to agree as Kenyans,” Ogamba said.

Teachers Service Commission Director of Quality Assurance Dr. Reuben Nthamburi said once the ministry provides data on schools with low admissions, the commission will rebalance teacher deployment.

“Once the minister has given us the data on the schools that are not having the correct admissions, automatically we will carry out the balancing of teachers to put them in schools with the required numbers so that they can continue with teaching,” said Nthamburi.

Basic Education Principal Secretary Ambassador Julius Bitok said poor performance should not be blamed solely on learners.

“We cannot condemn a student who had 200 marks if they did not get a good environment or an opportunity like another student who may have been in an academy,” said Bitok.

Ogamba said going forward, the government will ensure schools are equipped with facilities that meet constitutional requirements and support all learners.