Sololo’s
ailing education sector
I suspect everyone clearly knows why I am unable to
contribute any subject matter outside politics to this platform. The reason is
one: the countdown to 2017 general elections, for many Kenyans, begun on 5th
of March 2013-just a day after election save for those who shifted their
intentions towards presidential election petition. Now being October of 2015
the second Tuesday of august 2017 is approaching faster and my contributions
are justified.
Now my editors have instructed me not to contribute any
political agenda to this space until further notice and I am bound by no consideration
to disown their move. The reason behind their instructions will be a story for
another day.
Without further ado let’s get back to the subject: the
sololo’s ailing education sector.
There is little doubt that sololo has been a hotbed of
academic prowess producing giant professors, doctorial holders and many
undergraduate degree students. Any claims that any region from entire Marsabit
county has ever surpassed sololo in producing bright individuals is not only
arrogant but also misguiding. However, this trend has diminished over the past
decade and March of every year sololo people mourns about the tragic
performances of their high school students in the national exams. The
reflection of performances these days does not have any relationship at all
with the expectations of many people. The region known for producing great
minds has now turned out to be a home for academic orphans with the first
person in KCSE exams not qualifying for any university program. WHAT A SHAME!
See also: the ultimate cost of roba duba and mahmud Ali's rivalry
What could
be the problem?
To start with, Sololo people have neglected there
responsibility of changing their education sector and shifted all their
intentions towards politics. People eat politics, live politics and sleep
politics and no one is aware that education is the weapon of 21st
century where people use pens and books only. Sadly sololo is lagging behind
and nothing is happening at all. The sun will continue rising from the east and
set in the west and our people are just there watching as we slump to another
big and disastrous defeat. People have out smarten us in political and economic
fields and now our academic superiority is out of reach after we failed to
produce anyone near top in both KCSE and
KCPE exams of last year.
Secondly, over the past few years political leaders have
been blamed for their roles in recent academic woes. From forceful transfers
and demotions of highly committed and qualified teachers to total neglect dealt
a heavy blow to our schools. The immediate former Moyale MP and the current
leader are the source of burgeoning education crisis in the region. But the society is the one to be blamed.
Elders have never thought of chipping in to stop such madness and youths are
not even aware of what is happening!
Another sad factor and main contributor to the collapse of
education sector is lack of basic facilities. No library, no modern and well
equipped laboratories , no enough books and expecting our innocent kids to
perform well under such conditions is tantamount to miracles.
Possible
solutions:
People should clearly understand that there is nothing
impossible and I draw my reasoning from a line by famous inspirational words of
Charles Kettering that even the Wright brothers flew right through the smoke
screen of impossibility. I believe Sololo can still turn things around and
emerge and as a home of academic heroes, again.
For us to succeed these factors needs to be considered:
The society including elders, youths and the religious
leaders must ensure that political games will never be taken to school fields
again where politicians exercise their superiority complex over others and
tamper with the programs of the schools. The interest of our poor kids must be
respected and all the self made politicians must keep off the internal affairs
of the schools.
Since 2017 elections are still some years to go, hon. Roba
should try his best and leave a legacy behind.
He needs to form a commission of inquiry that can dig deep
in order to come up with the root cause of rot in our education arena and be
ready to fix. The commission formed must be intellectuals and I suppose working
with Sololo University students association (Susa) will be a favorable move.
The assigned group must do thorough investigation and come up with valid and
reasonable recommendations.
He also needs to divert more funds towards schools to set up
libraries for schools that doesn’t have one, build more classrooms to cater for
increasing number of intakes. It was actually one of his manifestos that he
would divert 60% of CDF funds to education sector if elected as an MP. He still
has got a time to change that intention to reality.
A quote by famous liberation leader, Nelson Mandela that
education is the most powerful weapon by which you can use to change the world
seems irrelevant in Sololo and I believe that a society that does not invest in
education is doomed.
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