Hunger, poverty keep 1.8m Kenyan children out of school

• Delays by ministry in releasing funds also hurting the literacy campaign

The number of Kenyan children locked out of schools has reached 1.8 million.

The figure remains high despite the introduction of free primary education in 2003.

The troubling statistics of children who have never been to school were revealed on Tuesday as the world celebrated the International Literacy Day.

Of the children who have never been to school, 57 per cent are girls, with boys still enjoying a privileged position in terms of access to education and life opportunities. And out of the 862 million illiterate adults in the world, 7.8 million are from Kenya.

According to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco), 75 million children worldwide are out of school.

The country on Tuesday deviated from the UN theme of “Literacy and Health” in the celebrations to link such high illiteracy rates to the food crisis.

“The rates can be linked to the prevailing conditions in our country. Lack of adequate food, among others,” said Education minister Sam Ongeri.

Kenya’s literacy rate stands at 68 per cent, with the government hoping to achieve 80 per cent by 2010.

Although the free primary education programme brought on board many boys and girls formerly locked out of education, the government’s inconsistency in disbursing the funds has hugely affected enrolment.

Among the poor, parents have been forced to withdraw or delay sending their children to school.

Primary schools

Currently, 8.4 million children are enrolled in the country’s more than 20,000 public primary schools while 6,000 secondary schools have 1.4 million students. But about two million primary school graduates have missed out on secondary school education.

“Despite the power of literacy to transform lives and patterns of social development, there is neither the political will nor the resources to make literacy a priority,” said Unesco director-general Koichiro Matsuura.

Illiteracy has therefore limited the abilities of adults to function in society, putting them at a disadvantage, with fewer options in terms of jobs.

Unesco further notes that for every 100 literate men there are only 84 literate women.