Administrators in Meru County have intensified tracking of parents whose children are yet to report back to school, as it emerged that more than 53,000 learners are still missing from institutions in the region.
Public Service Principal Secretary Mary Kimonye and her Infrastructure counterpart Mwangi Maringa said the government will now resort to use of phone data to track parents to ensure all children report back to school.null
Ms Kimonye expressed concern over the high number of learners who are out of school, citing teen pregnancies and transfers as some of the major causes.
According to data from the county, about 21,501 pupils are yet to turn up in public primary schools while 10,629 are missing in private schools.
Another 20,064 students have not reported to public secondary schools while 957 are out of private secondary schools.
However, Ms Kimonye said all pregnant girls must report back to their schools or be transferred to nearby day schools.
“Girls who have delivered must be accepted back to school while those who may not be comfortable due to stigma should be helped to relocate to a nearby day school,” she said.
