The best performing schools in Garissa this year were privately owned. Many of the city's public schools under-performed and big names like Garissa Primary were not even represented in the TOP 100. For another year the disparity between NEP and the rest of the country widened with NEP lacking representation in the TOP 100 nationally. However, the best candidate nationally beat his NEP counterpart by a meager 22 points which is way less than previous years. This disparity seems to be re-enforced by socio-economic conditions. Many of our schools lack the resources to compete on a national stage but it should be noted that the province and especially Garissa has been improving the quality and provision of education year after year since 2003.
Should current trends continue, I have no doubt that private schools in Garissa will go a long way in equalizing the socio-economic scale in the country. The sad thing is, many parents in the province cannot afford to send their Kids to these elite-I use the word liberally-schools. MPs should use CDF money to help public schools in hiring quality teachers and closing the gap. I wonder why most civic leaders, MPs and parents haven't realized the importance of education in correcting the archaic economic hierarchy that defines this nation. Its time our MPs woke up from sleep and worked to correct this glaring disparity. Education needs serious investment and if the government is not going to provide it, we as a whole should. Its time to start working from a blueprint instead of staggering towards failure.
Finally, a bit of good news, gender disparity in NEP seems to be slightly on the decline with girls taking up 33% of the top 100 positions.
KCPE
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