In another win for devolution, the Marsabit County Government has pledged to support all students from Marsabit County who scored over 320 points in the just ended Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education but are not able to afford school fees. This included 111 girls from the county who are joining Moi High School who received more than 5 million shillings.
The funding was announced by the Marsabit County Governor H.E. Mohamed Mohamud Ali who is also the patron of the Marsabit County Education Fund which has so far benefited more than 700 students since it was established.
Data on access to education from the 2019 census shows that the gender parity gap in Marsabit widened as learners transitioned to the next level. Further there were 10,355 boys and 10,352 girls in pre-primary, and 41,996 boys and 40,365 girls in primary school, but the gap widened in secondary school, where 18,352 learners were male and 12,075 were female. The 2019 census also shows that over 4,000 males made it to college against 2,800 females, while out of 4,611 who went to university, only 1,300 were females.
According to Kenya’s statistics agency, Marsabit County reports among the worst education indicators in the country, with literacy levels at about 20%. The Ministry of Education says more than 850,000 children are out of school in Kenya with ASAL counties topping the list.
Mohamed Mohamud Ali is the Governor and was elected in 2017 and his deputy is Solomon Gubo Riwe. He replaced Ukur Yattani, the first governor of Marsabit county and currently the Cabinet Secretary of National Treasury & Planning.
