Obama sister decries low standards of education, unemployment

Kitui County Governor’s wife Edith Malombe (third right) and Sauti Kuu CEO Dr Auma Obama (second left) join Kitui Health Workers Dancers during the launch of Kyeni Foundation and Family Planning Strategy at the Kitui Showgrounds Friday. [PHOTO: JENIPHER WACHIE/STANDARD]

NAIROBI: The sister of US President Barack Obama Friday decried the poor quality of education in the country, saying it was contributing to unemployment that currently runs at 72 per cent.

Speaking at Ithookwe Show Ground in Kitui where she launched the Kyeni Foundation and Kitui County Family Planning Strategy, Dr Auma Obama lamented that public schools and universities were “failing our children”.

Auma challenged the country’s education leadership to strive at improving standards, saying 98 per cent of Kenyan children have no books and 62 per cent of Standard Two children cannot write a word of English.

“It is a pity that employers who used to prefer Kenyans for their high standards of literacy are now going for Rwandans and other nationals. Universities must not lower cut off entries at a time when standards have fallen,” said Auma, the Chief Executive Officer of Sauti Kuu and patron of StoryMoja Foundation. “We are setting up our children at all stages to fail due to wrong priorities. We must move away from mass production of degrees with money as the benchmark,” she said.

Auma said parents were to blame for the poor culture of reading because most of them hardly read with their children. The foundation was founded by Mrs Edith Malombe, who is the wife Kitui Governor Julius Muli Malombe. Mrs Malombe said her foundation that focuses more on health matters also supports education.  

“Our mission embraces the provision of well researched and tested solutions through collaboration with like-minded partners such as the Melinda and Bill Gates Foundation and the Ahadi Trust,” she said.

Governor Malombe said Kitui was the first to commit funds to boost the Beyond Zero initiative of First Lady Margaret Kenyatta. Mrs Malombe was flanked during the launch by first ladies from Meru, Tharaka Nithi, Taita Taveta, Kiambu, Makueni, Busia, West Pokot, Wajir and Narok.