Parents from Athi River have been challenged to promote the development of local school by allowing their children get admission in institutions in the sub-county.
Speaking at Athi River Primary School on Thursday, Athi River Secondary School head teacher, Stephen Kariuki, said local schools were equally competitive hence no need to take children to private schools.
"I encourage parents from Athi River not to take their children to expensive private secondary schools while we have affordable and equally credible public secondary schools around," said Kariuki.
Kariuki argued that it was discouraging to see parents admit their children in schools that charge exorbitant fees only for their children to drop out after they have run out of money to pay fees.
Kariuki lamented that some children fail to get chances in public secondary schools after their parents had taken all their savings to private schools only to run out of fee along the way.