The Cabinet Secretary for Education Fred Matiang’i has underscored the need for policymakers to ensure that children in nomadic communities access quality education without hindrance.
Dr Matiang’i said leaders should build bridges between politics and policy by having the courage to address the barriers that hinder access to education without let or hindrance.
The CS was speaking when he officially opened a National conference on education in nomadic communities in a Nairobi hotel on Thursday.
The conference was organised under the auspices of the National Council for Nomadic Education in Kenya (Naconek) and supported by Unicef, World Vision, and Department for International Development (DFID) and Save the Children-Kenya.
He was flanked by World Vision Associate Director for Education and Protection, Ms Mary Mugo, Save the Children International, Unicef Chief of Party, Daniel Baheta
The conference was convened to discuss the challenges faced by children from Nomadic communities and other vulnerable groups out of school who despite several government initiatives have not met the goals of access and quality education because of the mobile nature of these communities.
Dr Matiang’i expressed concern that while access to education girls nationally equalled that of boys, such parity was extremely poor for girls among nomadic communities.
According to the 2014, Basic Education Statistical Booklet, while the sector recorded an improvement across on access and gender parity, regional and county disparities remain evident with arid and semi-arid counties recording the highest levels.
Of the over 1 million children out of school nationally, over 60% of them are in nomadic communities.
Dr Matiang’i said devolved governments in in these regions should be able to mobilise resources, to compliment the national government, to address the marginalization children in these regions face accessing school and quality education.
The CS thanked development partners such as Unicef, World Vision, World Food Programme and Department for International Development (DFID) Save the Children, among others for supporting education in Arid and Semi-Arid Lands (Asal), saying they had helped thousands of children access education in these regions.
He, however, expressed the need for Kenya to develop sustain the initiatives the development partners had established.
The CS also called for accurate and reliable data on nomadic education saying government need to establish whether the intervention that it was making in nomadic education was bearing results or not.
The conference brought together stakeholder, seasoned education practitioners and researchers in the nomadic education arena in Africa.
It offered an opportunity for reflection, consultation, collaboration and dissemination of best practice and theories that can elicit questions and provide the answers we have been looking for.
The conference theme was “The last mile: 2030- providing access and quality education to nomadic communities.