HUMAN CAPITAL DEVELOPMENT DEPARTMENT

DEPARTMENT OF HUMAN CAPITAL DEVELOPMENT

All the districts in Northern Kenya and other arid regions are relatively less developed compared to the rest of the country .The regions face unique challenges which are entrenched and inter-related. Health, Education and training sectors are among the most affected. The area is generally arid and poverty levels are high. The residents of the region rely on livestock. Rain is unreliable. Droughts are frequent and at times the animals are wiped out completely.  Parents therefore have limited resources to take their children to school and to provide essential nutrition and health care.

The following is a summary of the challenges faced in the region in Health and Education:

1. Low enrolment rates at all levels of education and training. While the Gross enrolment rate (GER) at national level for boys in 2008 was 112%, it was 39.3% for boys in the same province.
2. Huge gender disparities at all levels of education and training. There is a huge gender disparity the participation rates. While the gross enrolment rate of girls was 24.5% in 2008 in North Eastern Province for example, it was 39.3% for boys.
3. Low achievement rates which are quite grim at secondary level. Not a single student from the entire North Eastern province had an plain grade in 2009 KCSE.
4. Inadequate infrastructure. Classrooms are grossly inadequate and many children are learning in temporary shelters. Such hostile learning environments contribute to low achievement levels.
5. Low participation at higher and tertiary education levels due to low enrolments and achievement levels particularly at secondary level.
6. Long distances to schools and Health centres.
7. Inadequate personnel in both Health and Education sectors.
8. Low adult literacy rates. In 2006 for example, only 7.3% of males in Marsabit were able to read and write. The national average for males in the same period was 75.5%.
9. Serious shortage or non availability of water in many institutions.
10. Very few middle level institutions in the region. Garissa Teachers Training College is the only one of its kind in the arid North which covers over 60% of the country's land mass; Garissa Technical institute is the only middle level TIVET institution in the region. Lodwar  and Garissa MTC's are the only institutions which train health workers in the entire Northern region.

The immediate and urgent requirements in the region if the much desired national equity in the provision of services is to be attained are the following:

1. Infrastructure support. Pupils need to learn in comfortable and conducive environments if they are to enjoy learning.
2. More schools so that the distances become shorter thus allowing the young ones to attend.
3. Employment/ deployment of more health and education personnel.
4. Provision of learning resources like text books and science equipment as essential basics for improved results.
5. Bursary support for school leavers to access middle level colleges and higher education institutions as a long term strategy to empower the residents economically   in view of the fact that the region registers the highest poverty levels in the country.
6. More health facilities and equipment for hospitals and dispensaries.

The consequence of low participation in education sector and limited access to quality health services is that the vicious poverty cycle will persist.  The sustainable solution in bringing poverty levels down is to empower the people from the region to compete effectively with the rest through the provision of a level playing field particularly in education sector.
As part of the ministry's mandate, the interventions made in the 2009/10 financial year are given in the table below. It is however noted that the impact is severely limited due to the limited financial resources which are grossly inadequate and cannot meet the demand which is of phenomenal proportions.

NORTHERN KENYA EDUCATION TRUST.

The Northern Kenya Education Trust (Noket) was launched on 30th November, 2011 by the Hon. Minister for Development of Northern Kenya and other Arid Lands. The key objective of the trust is to support students from arid and other pastoralist areas to access quality post primary education. For more information click here www.noket.net