Members of Kenya’s Senate Education Committee have raised concerns over the rise of private schools in the country with claims that some are operating illegally.

The legislators urged the ministry of education to investigate such schools in south b and south c estates, singled out By Senator Tabitha Mutinda and ensure the quality of education is not compromised.

The senator also said majority of the houses in the area are now being turned into learning institutions for teaching adult learners.

He warned that if the matter is not addressed, the quality of education and the security of the residents in south b and south c estate may be affected.

He emphasized that guidelines must be followed before any school is established in any part of the country.

The Rwandan ministry of education, during the African Day of School Feeding has emphasized the government’s commitment to the program, revealing that it has increased the budget from FRW 35 billion in 2021/2022 to FRW 78.26 billion in 2022/2023.

The program is aimed at supporting parents in providing nutritious meals for their children, even though the ministry says some are not fulfilling their responsibilities.

The African Day of School is an annual event led by the African Union that seeks to renew and scale up commitment of African countries to deliver home-grown school feeding programs, advance human capital development, and achieve the sustainable development goals.

The African Union heads of state recognised the significant value of school feeding linked to local agriculture and created a specific school feeding model in January 2016 to promote school feeding programes as a strategy to achieve the sustainable development goals.

Speaking at the event, the director general of education policy and analysis at the ministry, Rose Baguma stated that government provides 90 percent of the funding for the school feeding program, while the role of parents is only 10 per cent for per-primary and primary levels while for secondary students, the government provides 15.7 per cent and parents contribute 84.7 per cent.

Kenyan President, William Ruto has directed the military to work with the ministry of education to rebuild schools destroyed by bandits, so that learners can go back to their studies.

He also emphasized the need for the Kenya defence forces to employ a futuristic approach to professional training and development.

He said necessary steps would be put in place in rebuilding all schools affected by the bandit attack.

He indicated that the fundamental rights and freedoms under articles 26, 28 and 29, particularly of life, dignity and freedom and security of affected people have been violated consistently without redress.

Ruto cited article 21 which states that it is the fundamental duty of the state and every state organ to observe, respect, protect, promote and fulfill the rights and fundamental freedoms in the bill of rights.

The Executive secretary of the National Commission for Colleges of education, Paulinus Chijoke Okwelle, has expressed concern over the dwindling enrolment figures of candidates into Nigeria certificate in education programmes in the country.

He urged the joint admissions and matriculation board (jamb) to lower the entry requirements, including accepting a pass in mathematics and English language as per-requisite for admissions to attract more candidates to enroll for NCE programmes.

He said efforts must be made by relevant agencies, including jamb, to put in place necessary collaborations to boost the fortunes of NCE programes.

As part of the remedial measures, Okwelle urged jamb to devise separate and realistic entry requirements for colleges of education as against that of degree-awarding institutions, to boost enrollment.

He noted that uniformed entry requirements to tertiary institutions, have adversely affected enrollment into NCE programes.

He also proposed that admission requirements into NCE should allow for pass in mathematics for candidates seeking admissions into arts and humanities, and pass in English language for those seeking admissions into sciences, vocational and technical-based courses.

The Lagos state government and Getbundi education technology company has commissioned a science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (stem) laboratory at Wesley Girls Senior Secondary School, Yaba, Lagos.

The stem laboratory is the pilot phase of an ongoing partnership between the Lagos state government and Getbundi that would see the deployment of Getbundi’s education technology platform across schools in the state.

Special assistant on education to the Governor Of Lagos State, Adetola Salau, while commissioning the center spoke on the importance of stem education, saying it helps to prepare students for the workforce and equips them with the skills needed to excel in a rapidly-changing, technology-driven society.

She said the Getbundi offering is in line with the Steamup Lagos Project whose goal is to infuse the ideals of a globally unified steam curriculum, making learning fun, accessible, sustainable, relatable to learners, while inculcating in them critical thinking ability, problem identification and solving skills, collaboration and creativity in designing solutions to identified challenges in society.

She said by virtue of the partnership, the Getbundi is helping to provide students with real-world experience and help them to develop the skills that are in demand in the job market with the donation of a steam lab equipped with the latest equipment and software.