A member of the Nakuru County assembly has called on the education stakeholders to take stern measures against parents who engage their children in child labour at the expense of attending school.
Speaking after hosting dignitaries from the county government led by governor Kinuthia Mbugua on Tuesday in his Visoi ward, area MCA Edward Gitau regretted the small number of children attending school in the area saying that many ignorant parents were denying their children a right to education.
He cited looking after animals, selling in shops and riding family motorcycles as the main areas why under-aged children were being used, further revealing that a crackdown will soon be mounted and severe punitive measures taken on those found guilty.
"Under the Kenyan constitution, every child has a right to education and anything contrary to this is punishable by the law," he said, adding that ensuring that our children attend school was the best way of breeding and enlightening the society.
He applauded the governor's move of giving a pair of school uniform to each child in a school in his ward saying that it would act as a motivator to others who were not in school.
Gitau pledged to do the same to any other student who wished to go back to school before the end of January further committing to ensure that all registration fees were paid to see them get admitted back in school.
A 2014 United Nationd reports reveals that 3 out of 10 pupils especially in rural Kenya drop out of school at class six because of child labour a trend Gitau believes can be ended with the right mentality.