Mombasa County Commissioner Evans Achoki. Photo/ youtube.com
Mombasa County commissioner Evans Achoki has ordered authorities in the county to ensure no pupil or student stays out of school.
Achoki at a press conference on Friday in Mombasa said there was no reason for pupils and students to stay out of school at a time education is free.
He ordered chiefs and their assistants to capture and detain anyone within the school going age as well as arrest their parents for their laxity in ensuring children attend school.
“Education today is free. Any student or pupil found outside school without any valid reason will be arrested. Parents who do not ensure their children attend school will also be arrested,” the county commissioner said.
He spoke at a time Education ministry statistics show Coast among regions with the highest school drop out rates in the country.
Acting Education cabinet secretary Fred Matiang’i past last week raised alarm over the low enrollment to secondary school in the region.
A policy think tank recently expressed serious concerns about the high number of dropouts among primary school pupils in Coast even after the introduction of free education.