H.E.

THE GOVERNOR OF NAIROBIS SPEECH DELIVERED ON THE OCCASSION OF THE STAKEHOLDERS FORUM ON EDUCATON STANDARDS IN PUBLIC PRIMARY SCHOOLS IN NAIROBI COUNTY AT THE SENTRIM 680 HOTEL ON 29TH JANUARY 2014 Fellow stakeholders in the education realm, Invited guests, Ladies and gentlemen,

Aristotle once said those who educate children well are to be honored than parents for parents give ONLY life. Educationists give the art of living. I am privileged and honored to host you at this Forum that is purposed to engage stakeholders and capture issues which will lead to an implementation strategy of appropriate measures to improve the performance of public primary schools in the County. Any community which does not invest in education of its people is not only denying them their fundamental human right but also denying itself the lasting social sustainability. At a recent Global Education Forum held in Dubai, it was observed and correctly so that "Education is the cornerstone for any nation or community aspiring to build peace and sustain a knowledge economy. The human mind makes possible all development achievements, from health advances and agricultural innovations to efficient public administration, private sector growth and respect for each other's values." My County realizes the importance of ensuring that all children receive quality basic education to pave way for a bright future both for prosperity and for the nation as a whole. And it is for this reason that I convened this Forum, for the sole purpose of rallying every one on the desired goal to change the fortunes of our public primary schools in the County. Education is everyone's business and all of us in this County must get on with this business. Ladies and gentlemen public primary schools are in pathetic conditions, lacking even the most basic of teaching and learning facilities. Most of these schools are situated within the underprivileged communities and have a disproportionate Teacher Pupil Ratio (TPR), are beset with behavioral vices stemming from the home/surrounding environment hence the need to partner with various stakeholders to address them. Performance in KCPE Examinations by the public schools has been on the decline since 2003. It is only last year, 2013 that there was an improvement of 6 points, which was still below the performance attained in 2003. (KCPE analysis trend);

Year 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013

KCPE registered candidates Boys Girls Total 10,277 10,360 20,631 10745 10,918 21,663 11,841 12,168 24,009 12,368 12,875 25,243 12,652 13,008 25,660 13,522 13,516 27,038 13,854 14,445 28,299 18,492 18,378 36,870 19,841 20,511 40,352 21,272 22,543 42,835 22,253 22,453 45,706 22,252 23,709 45,961

Private 310.72 321.30 320.50 292.83 276.69 283.95 286.33 280.37 280.53 280.86 294.43

Performance Public 257.68 255.13 251.30 252.38 246.02 240.41 239.49 237.33 235.28 239.89 244.59

Joint 275.89 281.42 271.61 275.48 271.94 269.62 269.46 267.76 257.97 259.84 269.43

I got my primary school education here in Nairobi, and I know that the County Schools focused on providing holistic learning to children. The schools had sufficient number of teachers, with schools holding an average of 35 pupils per class. Some of those classes now hold 90+ pupils. I have had a chance to go round the County and visit some of the schools. Beside the overcrowding in the classes, one comes across a good many of the schools that have very few children. The latter category have unused classrooms. Investigations have revealed that it is not for shortage of children of school going age in the neighborhood of these schools. Parents, whether poor or rich will run away from schools that don't guarantee reasonable standards of education for their children. Most of the 205 public primary schools that we have in the County, were built at a time when the population of Nairobi was under 2 million people. Nairobi today has close to 5 million people but there has hardly been an increase in the number of public primary schools. The parents in this County have had to opt for the more costly private schools, with others taking their children to the less fashionable informal schools. While the number of children enrolled in private and informal schools has been growing in the last 5 years, that in public primary schools has been falling (from 213,457 in 2009, down to 207,085 in 2013). Another area of concern is the low transition rate from primary to secondary level. Nairobi County has the lowest transition rate in the Country that currently stands at about 52% compared to the National rate of 78%. This is a very uncomfortable situation, that calls for a conscientious and deliberate plan that must be executed urgently. We need to rehabilitate and expand the existing infrastructure as we build new schools to meet the increased population of Nairobi. As I conclude my introductory remarks I must also send a warning to the people whose appetite for land has not spared public schools. I have reports of schools whose land

was hived off, and turned into other use. Be assured that even if one built a Tower of Babel on the grabbed land, that building will be brought down and the piece of land restored to the school. Schools will have their land restored to the original boundaries. Those who cheated their way into getting title deeds for such property will have those title deeds revoked. In this Forum, we want to identify the issues that have consigned Nairobians to the situation outlined above, and agree on the path to take, in addressing the issues comprehensively. It is now my pleasure to welcome you to the discussions. DR EVANS KIDERO GOVERNOR, NAIROBI CITY COUNTY