Take your children to school or else, chief orders

Waberia West Location Chief Yussuf Ali has cautioned parents from failing to take their children to school saying they would be arrested and prosecuted.

Addressing parents, clerics and youth from Waberia West location, Yussuf said such children are becoming soft targets for radicalization because they do not have an education and a chance to secure jobs and other opportunities.

He noted that in the long run the trend of truancy in children would pose a security threat to the entire region.

“If children roam around in the streets instead of going to school to get an education some people will take the advantage of the situation to poison their minds,” he said.

The administrator intimated that a campaign to ensure that all children of school-going age have access to education is in the works, adding that parents found breaking the law by denying their children the opportunity would be punished accordingly.

Yussuf stated that his office would work closely with the Children’s Department and use the Nyumba Kumi Initiative to identify households that do not take their children to school.

“As there are many children who do not go to school for the next two weeks we will conduct an operation seeking children to go back to school, and in the process we shall also make a follow-up of children who are taken to school but stopped,” he noted.

He promised parents to help in buying various school equipment and uniforms.

“If you know that your child does not have a uniform take the report to the chief’s office. I will personally handle the matter and take the child to school,” he said.

The administrator promised a reward to anyone who provides information on children of school going-age who have not been taken to school.

On his part, Garissa sub-County Children Officer Simon Chege said the number of school going children who are out of school has increased in the last three months.

He cited poverty, domestic violence, drug and substance abuse and lack of good parenting as some of the reasons why children fail to attend school.