- Bomu secondary school principal Wilfred Mutondi embarked on a house-to-house search for the 31 candidates who had stopped coming to school.
- In some of the homes they visited, the principal said, they found five boys, who had dropped out of school, were already married and are now parents.
Image: AURA RUTH
At the beginning of this year, Bomu Secondary School in Changamwe constituency, Mombasa registered 119 students to sit this year’s Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) examination.
However, as days went by and the examination drew near, the number of candidates continued to drop, and by last month, 31 students had left school.
The candidates stopped attending classes because of several factors including; peer pressure, poverty levels at home, teen pregnancies, early marriages, and drugs and substance use among other issues.
Mid last month, the Bomu Secondary School principal Wilfred Mutondi embarked on a house-to-house search for the 31 candidates who had stopped coming to school.
The principal said he managed to bring back 28 candidates for the rehearsal of the national examination, but three girls were pregnant and did not want to come back to school.
“I think the girls are ashamed of the pregnancy, but I’m planning to visit them again this week with the Board of Management members. We want to take them through counselling sessions so that they can undertake the exams next week,” Mutondi said.
In some of the homes they visited, the principal said, they found five boys who had dropped out of school, were already married and are now parents.
However, the five boys agreed to go back to school for the examination.
“The young boys, who are now parents, said they had to weigh between continuing with school and taking care of their children,” he said.
The principal at the same time said the high levels of poverty have also affected the young students, who are sometimes forced to do menial jobs to help take care of their families and younger siblings.
However, Mutondi also noted that some parents contribute to their children’s decision to drop out of school, despite being able to pay for their school fees.
“There is one student, whom we found married, and the parent was paying the rent and providing for everything in that house.”
The principal called on the National government to ensure schools have enough capitation, especially in tuition accounts, to support students in schools.
“Sometimes, schools do not have even money to buy chalks,” he said.
Shortage of teachers in school should also be addressed, said Mutondi, adding that at Bomu Secondary School, they have 11 teachers employed by BOM and the school spends almost Sh2 million annually to pay them salaries.
He spoke during a meeting at the school to engage parents, teachers and education stakeholders to raise the standards of education within Changamwe constituency.
Technical University of Mombasa vice-chancellor Prof Leila Abubakar, who was in attendance during the meeting, said most parents, especially at the Coast region, have their priorities upside down in education matters.
“We have parents who are more than willing to buy a nice wedding dress, but the same parents cannot afford to pay the minimum amount for the education of their children. We need to change the priorities and our attitude as parents,” Abubakar said.
The vice chancellor said they have so far enrolled only 66 per cent of students who got admission into the institution in their latest intake.
“This is very unfortunate, by now, we were expecting to have at least 89 to 90 per cent enrolment of the new students.”
She called upon parents to invest in the education of their children.
“In a place like Mombasa, a child can be educated and succeed, let us give the education of our children a priority. I would not have been here if my parents did not educate me," she said.
The VC said mothers are the first teachers and therefore they should try and befriend their children.
“Let our children be our friends so that they can be open on the challenges they are facing out there, let there be a good relationship between a child and a parent," she said.
According the VC, parents in the Coast region tend to defend their children even when they are in the wrong, instead of listening to the teacher who points out the mistakes.
“Parents should also be friends with teachers. They should have an interest in knowing how their children are faring in school.”