The parliamentary committee on Education and Research has pitched tent in Kilifi county to determine causes of poor performance in the area.
The committee led by the chairperson Florence Mwikali Mutua visited the county for two days following a request by Kilifi North MP Owen Baya to conduct an inquiry into the causes of mass failure in the 2020 Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) exams.
Members of the committee visited Magarini and Kilifi North.
In his inquiry, Baya had requested to know how the education system is managed in the area, teacher distribution and the correlation between subject performance and the number of teachers deployed by the Teachers Service Commission.
The legislator also wanted to know the availability of learning materials, especially in sciences, and the general preparedness of the schools to produce quality results.
During a meeting attended by education officials, opinion leaders and the Kilifi county Governor Amason Kingi, the county director of education Khalif Hirei said the area has 153 public secondary schools against a total student population of 75,000.
He also said the county is understaffed and some of the facilities have limited resources, including vehicles to enable smooth operation.
"In total, we have six quality assurance officers, nine sub-county directors of education, and five education officers, so we are still understaffed," he said.
He said this year they recorded 100 percent transition from primary to secondary but 311 students are still missing.
Hirei noted that Kilifi county has a shortfall of 693 classrooms, 222 laboratories, 41 dining halls, 1000 dormitories and 141 libraries.
The governor while addressing the committee said Kilifi has been one of the marginalised counties for years. He cited poor infrastructure as one of the causes of dismal performance in many schools around the area.
Kingi also said parents should take personal responsibility and follow up on the progress of their children. He added that there is need for guidance and counselling for teachers.
"It's sad that when you visit the urban areas you find children who are supposed to be in school are engaged in drugs which leads to indiscipline. We have had many cases of students burning their schools which is built from hard-earned cash," he said.
At Juweba hall in Kilifi, many speakers called on the government to invest heavily in infrastructure and ensure schools are equipped with all facilities, including labs to create a conducive learning environment for students.