Growing Education Standards in Kwale County

Even though education is the key to improving peoples’ life, it is estimated that only 10% of Kwale County residents have a secondary level of education or above. Its is further estimated that a total of 51% of Kwale County residents have a primary level of education only. As a result the County Government of Kwale under the leadership of Governor Salim Mgala Mvurya has prioritized the education sector to ensure that education standards in Kwale County grow.

The new Upendo ECDE center in Ndavaya Ward - Kinango.

In 2013 when they were elected for their first term in office under the devolved system of government, Governor Mvurya and his Deputy Fatuma Achani came up with the ‘Elimu Ni Sasa’ initiative, a program that has highly motivated the growth of education levels in Kwale County. ‘Elimu Ni Sasa’ are Swahili words which literary translate to ‘Education Is Now’ in English. Through this initiative the County Government of Kwale has facilitated the construction of modern Early Childhood Development Education Centers in various parts of the county,  and also set aside a bursary fund that sponsors Kwale County students learning in various institutions across the country and outside Kenya.

Since 2013, a total of 236 modern ECDE centers have been put up in the 20 wards of Kwale county, making it easy to children access education at an early age. In every ECDE facility, the County government has put up two classrooms, a staff office, a kitchen and playing facilities for the children. The county government of Kwale through it education department has also employed more than 500 ECDE teachers/care givers. There is also a feeding program in the ECDE centers.

The old Upendo ECDE Center in Ndavaya Ward

In its bursary program, the County Government of Kwale sets aside 400 million shillings each year, where every word receives 20 million shillings. These funds are managed by ward bursary committees which are mandated to allocate bursary funds to students by County Bursary Act. Students who get admission to national schools receive 100% sponsorship for their four years of study at secondary level. Currently the county government is fully sponsoring over 3310 students (forms 2-4) in various nationals schools across Kenya, and a further 1440 in various universities. Those learning in extra county,  other secondary schools, polytechnics and other vocational training institutions get regular bursaries too from the bursary kitty. A total of 68 students from Kwale County got full scholarships to study different courses in India and some have already completed their studies and returned home.

Through its ‘Elimu Ni Sasa’ initiative, the County Government of Kwale has also upgraded various county polytechnics to better learning institutions by equipping them with learning materials and workshops tools.

This comes as the County Government of Kwale has promised to work together with Kenya Literature Bureau to ensure that goals of its ‘Elimu Ni Sasa’ scholarship program are fully achieved. Speaking when Kenya Literature Bureau Board Chairman Francis Baya payed him a courtesy call in his Mvindeni office, Kwale Governor Salim Mvurya commended KLB for its work in uplifting education standards in Kenya. Governor Mvurya said that through the 'Elimu Ni Sasa' initiative, education standards in Kwale County have grown tremendously.

On his part, Mr. Francis Baya praised Governor Mvurya for the initiative. The Kenya Literature Beareau team was in Kwale County for the distribution of the new syllabus books to various schools and they visited Matuga Girls Highs School, Kinango and Ramisi secondary schools.    

Though it is estimated that a total of 39% of Kwale County residents have no formal education, through the ‘Elimu Ni Sasa’ initiative things have greatly changed with the number of pupils joining schools increasing over the years.

Currently according to the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) Msambweni sub county has the highest share of residents with a secondary level of education or above at 21%, Matuga sub county has the highest share of residents with a primary level of education only at 53%, whereas Lunga Lunga sub county has the highest share of residents with no formal education at 45%.