The Tana River County Police Commander Richard Ng’eno has issued a warning to parents guilty of denying their children the right to education.
He said this in his county office in Hola, Tana River, after discovering that most children do not report to schools. According to reports, these children herd livestock while their agemates stay in school.
With that, the Police Commander stated that the government will arrest and take to court parents who are not sending their children to school.
“Parents who are found not sending their children to school will be arrested and taken to court for denying their children the right to education,” he warned.
The Police Commander insisted that parents should stop being ignorant as the children’s right to education is stated in the Kenyan constitution.
“We have realized that many children do not go to school yet we do not understand the reason behind it. We want to warn parents that if you look at Kenyan laws, every child has the right to go to school,” Richard Ng’eno added.
Besides, he said that the parents have no excuse for keeping their children out of school since there is free and compulsory primary education in Kenya. By keeping their children out of school, parents are exposing these young ones to vices such as drug and substance abuse which continues the ravage the youth.
Other happenings in Tana River county related to children failing to attend school include sexual violence and teenage pregnancies. For years, Tana River county has been among the counties in Kenya with the highest rates of teen pregnancies.
A Smart Survey conducted in February 2020 in Tana River county revealed that less than thirty-five percent of girls were in primary school and only about sixteen percent in secondary schools in the county.
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