The Deputy Chief Commissioner at the Kenya Scouts Association Alice Kihungi led a delegation of West Pokot County Scouts leaders to pay a courtesy call on the County Director of Education in West Pokot to strengthen collaboration between the education sector and the Scouting movement in the County.
The office of the CDE was appraised on the critical role Scouting plays in complementing the formal education system in the county through projects supported by the Association and it’s partners which are aimed at keeping learners in school.
Access to safe and reliable water remains a challenge in many parts of West Pokot, with schools among the most affected. Food insecurity also continues to be a barrier to education in County, with many learners struggling to stay in school due to hunger.
To address this, the Association in partnership with Radio Haven Sweden in collaboration with Vi Agroforestry Kenya under the Children of the World Project has embarked on sinking of boreholes and establishing school gardens in selected schools across the county to ensure learners have nutritious food and clean sustainable water sources.
The project has seen the drilling and equipping of bore holes in Our Lady of Peace Pser Secondary School and St. Paul’s Kitelakapel Secondary School easing the burden of water shortages in the schools and surrounding communities.
School gardens have also been established under the project in 8 schools namely Our lady of peace Pser Secondary School, Holy Trinity Serewo Girls, Chepararia Comprehensive, Marich pass Secondary, St Philips Poghoi Primary, St. Peter’s Marich Pass Primary, Keringet Primary School and Kitelakapel secondary and has seen improved school attendance, retention, and performance by reducing absenteeism linked to hunger especially for grade 7 to 9 which do not have the school feeding programmes.
Students in the county have also been trained on simple Climate Smart Agriculture which can be implemented in their homes through the establishment of kitchen gardens with locally available materials.
The County Director of Education represented by Benson Ariteluk the County Project Manager commended the Scouts movement for its commitment towards supporting learners to remain in school and pledged continued support from the directorate in ensuring that more schools integrate Scouting into their co-circular activities.
“You impact as a movement can be felt by not only learners in our schools but also the communities surrounding these schools”, he said appreciating the leadership at the Movement for supporting the governments efforts towards education by ensuring learners stay in school.
The Deputy Chief Commissioner Commissioner thanked the CDE for the warm reception and reaffirmed the movement’s dedication to working closely with the education sector to empower learners.
The courtesy call marks the beginning of stronger collaboration between the Kenya Scouts Association and the Directorate of Education in West Pokot with the shared goal of ensuring that every child has the opportunity to stay in school and complete their education.
