Africa-Press – Kenya. President William Ruto’s aide Farouk Kibet is pushing for improvement of facilitates in schools in the North Rift region and better performance in national exams.
Kibet has for the last two month mobilised resources to support expansion of infrastructure in the schools in the region after expressing concern that performance in the region had been declining over the years.
So passionate has he been on matters education, that he has been attracting well wishers to support his cause on expansion of classrooms, dormitories, laboratories and even provision of buses for schools, to help students participate in exchange programmes and extracurricular activities.
“Education is the key to transforming society and that why I believe we have to start there. We are working with teachers, parents, the Ministry of Education and friends to ensure all our children in the North Rift and other regions have equal chance to access better education,” Kibet said.
At events he has hosted so far to support schools, Kibet has been speaking extensively on the need for all education stakeholders to join hands in ensuring learning institutions have better facilities that will lead to improved performance in national exams.
KIbet has also mobilised top education officials including CS Ezekiel Machogu and PS Dr Kipsang Belio to visit some of the schools in the region and talk to stakeholders on the ongoing changes in the education sector.
So far, Kibet has hosted successful fundraising events at Tulwo Girls School and Kurgung Boys High School in Nandi county and also a similar activity at Metkei Girls in Ellgeyo Marakwet county.
He also hosted education activities at Chepsaita Secondary School and at Tapsagoi Secondary among other institutions in the region.
Kibet said he wants parents and counties to play a larger role in the management and equipment of schools, and support the work being done by teachers.
“Many times, our parents attack teachers whenever schools under perform, but we also fail to recognise or even reward the same teachers whenever the schools do better. Time has come for all stakeholders to effectively play their role if we want good results in our schools,” Kibet said.
He has been pushing to have school boards chaired by people from the locations where the schools are located instead of having outsiders who end up being a burden to the institutions.
“We cannot have communities build schools but when it comes to leadership matters, the same communities are said to have no capacity to manage the institutions they helped to developed,” Kibet said.
He has also raised concern over alcoholism and abuse of drugs affecting both learners and some teachers. He said the war against illicit alcohol and drugs must be stepped up because the same was a risk to future generations.
Kibet said President Ruto is passionate on development of the education sector in the country and that is why the government is this year investing more than Sh650 billion to support education at all levels.
“We all must come out to strongly to support the President’s vision to have all Kenyan children benefit from good education,” he said.
Speaking at Chepsaita and Kurugung, Mochogu and Dr Kipsang praised the initiative by Kibet and urged other leaders to push for more resources to support the education sector.
Kibet has also planned to use the annual Chepsaita Marathon to get scholarships to support needy students in the area.
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