Principal Secretary for Interior and National Administration Dr Raymond Omollo has highlighted government investment in education while urging residents of Karachuonyo in Homa Bay County to support President William Ruto’s bid for a second term.
Speaking on Friday at Kanyamfwa High School during a fundraising drive for the institution, Dr Omollo said education was a priority for the Kenya Kwanza administration, with nearly 30% of the national budget allocated to the sector.
“Even the current budget, the biggest allocation that Parliament has given us is on education, close to 30% of the total budget,” Dr Omollo said.
He said the government had hired 100,000 teachers since Ruto took office, against the president’s 2022 campaign pledge to employ 116,000 teachers. He said a further 20,000 teachers would be recruited in the current financial year.
“When he was looking for your vote, he committed to hiring 116,000 teachers. Today, he has hired 100,000, and in the current financial year, another 20,000 will be hired,” he said.
Dr Omollo said the government’s education policies were aimed at ensuring children from low-income families could access schooling regardless of their parents’ ability to pay.
“Because education is the biggest equalizer, no child should miss an opportunity to be educated, simply because the parents cannot pay or there are no teachers to educate them,” he said.
He cited Kanyamfwa High School’s infrastructure challenges as an example of the difficulties facing some schools, saying increased teacher recruitment would help improve learning outcomes in institutions with limited facilities.
Dr Omollo also defended reforms to higher education funding, saying students who qualify for university or college should be able to pursue their preferred courses regardless of their families’ financial circumstances.
“If a child passes to go to a university or to a college from this school, they must be able to pursue the course or the career that they have chosen, that they have qualified for, whether their parents or whether their families can pay or not,” he said.
During the visit, Dr Omollo paid Sh700,000 in school fee arrears owed by students at Kanyamfwa High School and pledged support for the construction of a perimeter fence.
He also urged residents to support Ruto’s re-election, citing government projects and programmes in the Nyanza region as evidence of the administration’s commitment to the area.
Dr Omollo described the government’s record in Nyanza as “a sure ticket” for Ruto’s re-election and pointed to investments in education and other development programmes as evidence of the president’s performance in the region.
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