Gatanga MP calls for caution in the implementation of the 2-6-3-3-3 curriculum.

Gatanga MP Eng. Joseph Nduati Ngugi (extreme left) flags off the 2018 the 16 "Wings To Fly" beneficiaries from Thika East, Thika West, Gatundu North and Gatanga sub-counties.

Gatanga MP Eng. Joseph Nduati Ngugi has appealed to Education Cabinet Secretary Amina Mohammed not to rush the implementation of the new 2-6-3-3-3 curriculum arguing that schools lacked the necessary infrastructure to accommodate the system now.

Speaking in Thika Town on Monday while flagging off 16 beneficiaries of Equity Bank’s 2018 “Wings To Fly” Programme, Eng. Nduati noted that most public schools across the country lacked basic infrastructure to accommodate any new structure in education thus there was need to invest on the same before the ministry rolled out the new system.

“I want to point out that 8-4-4 is not a bad system after all having seen it churn out so many successful professionals over the years. We should not, as a country play politics with the education of our children and keep changing our education system now and then,” said Eng. Nduati.

The Gatanga legislator hailed the manner in which the Thika Community Scholarship Selection Board conducted the exercise saying that only the most deserving cases were selected. However, the MP admitted that only a small percentage of deserving cases benefited thus there was need for other stakeholders to come on board in order to assist all those who were left out due to various reasons.

“Those selected are very few compared to the big number of the needy children we have in the society. As Gatanga, we are going to use Equity’s Wings To Fly list to assimilate all those we can with our Ksh. 25 million CDF kitty,” he said.

He challenged parents to take full advantage of empowerment programmes being rolled out by the government so as to improve their economic status and be able to educate their children without fully depending on external assistance.

Thika Branch Equity Senior Business Growth & Development Manager Mr. Samuel Karanu admitted that the level of poverty among families was quite high in the region with so many deserving cases being locked out of their selection.

He urged the parents and guardians of the beneficiaries not to abdicate their duties as parents especially now that their children had received full scholarships.

“As parents, you should not abscond your parenting responsibilities now that Equity Bank has taken up the role of educating your children. This is a shared responsibility between both of us so as to ensure that these children do not get lost along the way,” he said.

He advised the beneficiaries not to let anyone kill their dreams, appealing to them to use the scholarship opportunity to work hard in school and uplift the economic standards of their households.

Thika Town MP Eng. Patrick Wainaina, who was away on other official duties, was represented by his CDF Chairman Mr. Huruko Njau, who reiterated their commitment to assisting all the needy students with bursaries and in any other form of assistance.

171 students from Thika East, West, Gatundu North and Gatanga sub-counties applied for the scholarship this year with just 110 getting shortlisted for the final selection.

To qualify for Wings To Fly scholarship, one had to have attained a minimum of 350 marks in this year’s KCPE and must have been come from a genuinely poor family background.

Since its inception, Thika region has so far benefitted 240 students, some of who have successfully joined the labour market, both locally and abroad.