Envoy rejects bid to upgrade Kamusinga, Lugulu into national schools

Written by Daniel Saenyi

Kenya's Ambassador to Canada Simon Nabukwess. 

Uplifting of selected schools into national schools in every province continues elicit diverse reactions from leaders in western Kenya as they fear missing on admission chances should the quota system be used.

The Quota system provides for 65 per cent chance for locals in the area to be accepted to the provincial schools but if they are upgraded, the locals will get lower chance of about 15 per cent.

In Western province, Lugulu and Kamusinga boys are among the proposed schools for the upgrade, however, the Kenyan Ambassador to Canada Mr. Simon Nabukwess is against the proposed move.

Mr. Nabukwess said that Kamusinga is among the top schools in the country even though it is a provincial school.

He said it portrays the capabilities of local students in the country because it carries the majority of Western students according to the Quota system.

 “If Kamusinga is made a national school, many students from allover the country will be given higher chances of entry than those from within,  so our students will end up losing out on good schools.” He argued.

According to other stakeholders, the 8.4.4 system is also performing its function so it should not be scrapped off  saying in the mother countries where the system was borrowed from like Canada, the system is still functional and serving its purpose.

 If the Government wants to bring new national schools to Western province, the stakeholders reasoned, the government should build new schools instead of transforming the already established schools.

“To what value are we adding to these schools by making them national schools other than locking ourselves out with the quota system?” wondered Nabukwess.