No more approval of new schools, Otiende tells education ministry

An MP has asked the Ministry of Education not to allow the establishment of new secondary schools in his constituency.

Rarieda MP Otiende Amollo said the constituency had many secondary schools, some with less than 20 students.

Some of the schools, the MP said, do not receive teachers from the Teachers Service Commission, compromising education standards.

The MP was speaking during the disbursement of cheques worth Sh17.2 million to various schools in Rarieda at Pala Kobong’ Secondary School yesterday.

"We currently have more than 50 secondary institutions in the sub-county, which are sufficient to meet the educational needs of the locals. Let us improve these schools instead of adding new ones," he said.

He observed that many clans in the area wanted to have secondary schools in their villages.

"If the trend is allowed to continue, the newly established schools will lack not only the required number of students but also teachers to work in the schools," he said.

30 students

Otiende said, Pala Kobong’, which has less than 30 students, should be the last secondary school to be established in the constituency.

He said education stakeholders should instead focus on establishing tertiary institutions.

"There is no single tertiary institution in the area and we've already held talks with the Government on how to establish a technical training institution and a teachers' training college alongside a medical training college that is under construction," he explained.

Area Deputy County Commissioner Joseph Onyango supported the MP's sentiments, saying the mushrooming of secondary schools had compromised quality of education.

Most villages in the area, he said, had two or three schools, some without students or even the necessary infrastructure.

Onyango urged the managements of such schools to merge them in order to boost their resources and address the problem of teacher shortages. He also asked the communities living around the schools to work with other partners to develop the institutions.