5 Parents Arrested for Defying Amina’s Directive

A court in Eldoret has charged five parents for failing to enrol their children to Form One.

The accused parents were arrested amid the ongoing search by the government for students who completed KCPE last year and have not reported to secondary schools.

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The five, Stephen Ondia, Grace Munuko, Emily Andisi, Grace Nanjala, and Francis Khisa, were charged with violation of the right of children to education contrary to section 7 (1) of children act of 2011.

They were charged with keeping their children out of school, defying Education CS Amina Mohamed’s directive to have all children enrolled in secondary school.

They all pleaded guilty of the offense but defended themselves stating that they had no capability of raising school fees.

“It’s due to poverty and lack of fees that I can’t take my child to school. There is no joy for me to stay with my daughter at home when she is supposed to be in school your honour,” noted one of the parents.

Senior Resident Magistrate Christian Menya ordered them to be locked in police custody as they await a report from probation officer to identify whether they qualify for non-custodial sentence.

The government had earlier ordered for a 100 percent transition of students into secondary schools.

The operation has since been facilitated by NEMIS system, which is used to capture the names and letters of all students required to be enrolled in secondary schools.

By the beginning of February, over 900,000 had been reported to be admitted representing about 90 percent turnout.

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