County hires ECDE teachers, scales up milk programme

Nyandarua Governor Francis Kimemia [Kipsang Joseph]

The county government will employ 200 additional Early Childhood Development Education (ECDE) teachers next month.

This is in addition to 383 preparatory assistants who will now be absorbed on a permanent and pensionable basis.

In a statement, Governor Francis Kimemia said the new teachers will enjoy a new scheme and an improved package.

“The certificate holders entry will be at job group E, diploma holders at job group H while degree holders will join the scheme of service at job group K,” he said.

“It gives the teachers opportunities to continue training at the county,” he added. According to Kimemia, this will improve education in the county, especially now that ECDE classes have been included in the new curriculum.

“We want to have a new beginning with the fact that ECDE has been included in the new curriculum. That is why we want to employ the teachers on a permanent basis. It will give them morale to work,” he said.

The governor regretted that education standards in Nyandarua had been dwindling, saying employing more teachers will help solve the problem.

“The ECDE lays the foundation stone of education and if we do not support it, it will definitely affect the school examination and primary and secondary level,” said Kimemia.

He said the county government in conjunction with New KCC will carry out a free milk programme meant to benefit 23,000 nursery school children across the county.

The governor said the milk was ready for public ECDE centres in the seven sub counties, which will be offered three-times a week. He said the county administration was also set to discuss how the programme could be extended to privately-owned nursery schools that account for 19,000 children.

There are 496 public ECDC in Nyandarua. Kimemia said the milk programme was necessitated by the fact that more than 30 per cent of children in the county were suffering from malnutrition while another 23 per cent faced stunted growth due to lack of food.

He said this was among his pre-election pledges. He said the feeding programme will be scaled up to include porridge that has more nutrients necessary for growth.