By Arnold Ageta
Governor Amos Nyaribo presided over the second edition of the Nyamira Education Open and Prize Giving Day at Manga Stadium today.
The prize-giving day celebrated students, teachers, and schools for their excellent performance in last year’s national examinations.
Various schools, teachers, and students were recognized and rewarded for their hard work, dedication, and achievements.
The event, themed “Promoting talents, skills, and academic achievement for patriotism in Nyamira,” brought together various stakeholders to celebrate hard work.
Governor Nyaribo expressed gratitude to students, teachers, and principals for attaining a mean grade of 6 points.
“You have steered education in the county to an average mean of 6 points, up from 4.5 points in the year 2023,” he said.
He stated that the county government appreciates the support from all stakeholders who ensured the continued improvement of education in the county.
“As a county, we will continue to build pre-unit classrooms every year and also increase funding to Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET) institutions and county polytechnics,” he announced.
He further announced that, beginning in the second term of this year (May 2025), the county will, for the first time, provide fortified porridge every day for Early Childhood Development Education (ECDE) students.
“We realize that most families do not have enough food to feed their children in terms of nutritional balance,” he said. “We have taken that step to feed all our 30,000 students with a cup of porridge every day.”
He said this move seeks to increase student enrollment in ECDE centers and develop students into better learners for the future.
In a speech read by his representative, Regional Director of Education Lawrence Karuntimi, Education Cabinet Secretary (CS) Julius Ogamba applauded the county education stakeholders for coming together to make the event a success.
CS Ogamba said that the event’s theme is timely, especially in line with the Competency-Based Curriculum (CBC), which places a strong emphasis on nurturing talent.
“I commend teachers who have embraced our new curriculum and have worked tirelessly to support learners in grasping the CBC education,” read his speech.
Mr. Ogamba stated that, overall, the implementation of CBC is on course, and in Nyamira, 109 classrooms have been built for CBC.
“I commend the county government of Nyamira and all other agencies who, in one way or another, made this event a success,” he concluded.
Area Member of Parliament (MP) Clive Gisairo said education is a constitutional basic right for all children, and more needs to be done to achieve world-class education standards.
He called on both the national and county governments to work together to improve education quality and standards in the country.
“We all admit that challenges of funding in all sectors of education have been a major impediment to achieving parity with countries in the Western Hemisphere,” he noted.
Nyanza Regional Teachers Service Commission (TSC) Director Jackson Mwelese also applauded the county, saying such events are not witnessed elsewhere.
Mr. Mwelese, who was represented by Mathews Okumu, said that the event provides an opportunity for interaction and learning about the education sector’s performance.
He noted, however, that the TSC has challenges in teacher staffing, stating that there is a shortage of teachers in various cadres.
“In primary teachers’ colleges, we have a shortage of 80 teachers, in primary schools we lack 1,607, in secondary schools we need 11,594, while we have a shortage of 15,987 Junior Secondary School (JSS) teachers,” he announced.
He said that they had just completed the hiring of teachers who have been recently posted to schools.
He asked teachers to continue supporting learners as the Commission strives to bridge the staffing gaps.
The event attracted hundreds of teachers, principals, students, parents, and guardians who endured the rain until the end of the event.
