“With or without fees”: Ruto orders chiefs to ensure all Senior School students report by Friday

This comes as the Ministry of Education confirmed on Thursday that more than 200,000 learners were yet to report to school.

“We have reports that many children have not gone to school due to lack of fees and uniforms. Every chief and assistant chief must ensure that all children are in school. With or without fees or uniform, the students should report to school by tomorrow morning,” President Ruto said.

He spoke in Meru town during the disbursement of Nyota Business Start-Up Capital to more than 6,700 beneficiaries from Meru, Embu and Tharaka Nithi counties.

President Ruto said the government has released Sh44 billion, sufficient to support all learners during the first term.

He also directed teachers to allow needy students to wear their junior secondary school uniforms as they transition to senior school.

The President said the Nyota Programme was designed following past failures by successive governments to enforce a 100 percent transition to secondary school.

“We designed this programme because many intelligent young people failed to join secondary school. We do not want a repeat of a situation where children fail to transition for any reason,” he said.

During the event, President Ruto launched the disbursement of Sh168 million to 6,720 young entrepreneurs from the three counties.

Each beneficiary received Sh25,000 in the first phase, with Sh22,000 allocated as business capital and Sh3,000 deposited as savings under the National Social Security Fund (NSSF).

The President was accompanied by members of Parliament and governors from the region.

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