The Kenya National Association of Parents is crying foul over the increasing number of primary school leavers who continue to miss places in secondary schools.
The organization's chairman Musau Ndunda says the over 300,000 pupils who missed places this year and the 7 million others who could not secure places in secondary schools for the last seven years are a disaster in the making for this country.
The association now wants the government to create day scholars wings in all national and provincial schools to create room for primary school leavers.
It also wants the government to provide a way forward for the seven million Kenyans who lacked the opportunity to continue with secondary school education.
Elsewhere, parents in Nyandarua are buying stationery for their primary school going children in order to enable learning to move on smoothly as schools are yet to receive Free Primary Education fund for buying the supplies.
Nyandarua North District Education Officer Mrs Mary Gaturu said that some schools were yet to receive the money owing to what she termed as ‘administrative issues' that had delayed wiring of the funds to the various school bank accounts.
A spot check at local schools showed that parents had been made to buy exercise books as pupils report for the new term as school await arrival of the funds that are normally used to purchase stationery and meet other administrative obligations.
Mrs Gaturu commended the parents for the initiative saying learning was a two way process where parents had a role to play in ensuring learning in schools was smooth.
In most schools, parents are also known to hire teachers and provide funds for construction of classrooms to ease congestion in schools which has seen the teacher-pupil ratio increase to an all time high in public primary schools.
Each classroom has an average of 65 to 80 pupils.
The DEO urged school heads to go ahead and make plans to procure the stationery since the funds for the purpose would be released soon.
Meanwhile, two boys who were among the top Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) performers in Baringo district on Friday drowned at Kinyo River in Kituro location, Kabarnet division.
Neighbours who spoke Kenya News Agency said the two Douglas Kipkemoi, 15, who scored 348 marks and Lincoln Tameno, 14, with 328 marks decided to take a swim after looking for aquatic vegetables commonly known as norok, but they drowned in the swollen river.
They added that concern grew in the village when the boys failed to return home by 6 p.m, and when one of the neighbours saw the boys' shoes at the river bank, they alerted police who retrieved the bodies.
Baringo deputy officer Commanding Police Division (OCPD) Samuel Muthamia regretted the rising incidents of drowning in the area, particularly Kirandich dam that supplies water to Kabarnet town and its environs.
Mr. Muthamia called on parents to exercise caution and avoid sending their children to rivers, especially during the rainy season.
The bodies of the deceased were moved to Kabarnet district hospital mortuary.
