Free education boosts primary school attendance

By Sam Otieno

Thirty-five per cent of Kenyans are pursuing education at different levels according to results of a national census conducted last year.

Out of 38, 610, 097 Kenyans, only 13,667,047 are in school at various levels of education.

The largest category is attending primary and pre-primary schools while those pursuing university education are far much fewer compared to those attending secondary schools.

The total number of people attending school in Kenya are 13,667,047 with 2,247,071 in pre-primary, 9,425,390 in primary and 1,796, 467 in secondary schools.

Proximity to varsities

North Eastern Province has the least number of people pursuing university education with 2, 431, followed by Coast Province with 8, 941 enrolled in various universities.

Nairobi Province has the highest number of those pursuing university education, given its proximity to three main public universities that include University of Nairobi, Kenyatta University and Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology.

The number of those in primary and pre-primary institutions could be higher, due to the fact that the Government introduced free and compulsory primary education.

While the Government pays for everything in primary school, it only pays Sh10,625 to cater for tuition in secondary schools laving the rest of the expenses to be shouldered by parents. Admission of pupils in primary schools is open while in secondary and universities it is pegged on bed capacity.

During the release of the census results yesterday Planning Minister Wycliffe Oparanya said: "In order for the Government to achieve Vision 2030 goals, there is need to invest in education to meet the demands of the growing school-age population and future manpower."

Nyanza Province has the highest number of pupils in primary school while North Eastern has the lowest.

number probably due to the nomadic way of life that is practiced by most residents in the province.

Nyanza Province has the highest number of children attending primary school while North Eastern has the lowest number probably due to the nomadic way of life that is practiced by most residents in the province.

According to the statistics, Kenyans economy could be driven faster if the number of those obtaining university educations could match that of those in primary school level.