Taita Taveta University Vice Chancellor Hamadi Boga. [Photo/ the-star.co.ke]
A scholar has decried the increasing poor performance among high school students in Kwale County.
Taita Taveta University Vice Chancellor Hamadi Boga who comes from Kwale said the trend was so worrying that the number of professionals working in both private and public sectors from the county was dropping.Boga who spoke in Ukunda where he met aspirants eyeing for various political seats urged the politicians to use their influence in uplifting education standards in the Coastal County.“Every year, on average, Kwale registers 5,000 candidates for the KSCE examinations,” he said.“Out of these, more than 4,000 score between grades D plain and E. In general, about 75 per cent of all registered candidates score D, D- and E. If you asked yourself what is the future of such young people?”Mboga blamed parents who he said had abdicated the duty of grooming students to teachers forgetting that they also have the responsibility of ensuring schoolboys and girls perform well in school.“We are seeing a bad trend nowadays where parents totally don’t care about their children’s performance in school,” Boga added.“The role of mentoring students to become better persons academically lies in both teachers and parents and society in general. During holidays, parents, instead of engaging their children in meaningful work leave them to go to beaches. And you would find them chewing khat (miraa).”He said unless the tendency changes, Kwale will lack professionals who will drive the county’s economic agenda in the next few years.He also said the county lacked technical institutes to absorb students who fail to score grades that would enable them join universities and colleges.Kwale, according to the Ministry of Education is among counties where schools have poor infrastructure that insufficiently support high standards educations.