Kwale: Alarm raised over dropout rate

 Speaking at the Jomo Kenyatta Primary School on Thursday, Msambweni children's officer Johnstone Kivuli said that according to a report by UNICEF in 2019, about 17,000 children had been out of school.

He went on to say that efforts to track the children and help them enroll in school bore some fruit, with more than 7,000 returning, however, the stay in school is usually short-lived.

Some of the challenges that have been cited as leading to the worrying levels of children dropping out of school include lack of funds, while some parents have been accused of marrying off their underage children.

"Every child has the right to education and it is the responsibility of everyone to support their learning," Addraya Dena, a judge working in Kwale, said.

Residents were urged to report parents engaging their underage children in labour and marrying them off to authorities for action.