The Senate Standing Committee on Education has put Taita Taveta County on the spot over high parental costs in early education, low teacher pay, and gaps in compliance with national childcare policies.
In a high-level consultative meeting at Parliament Buildings, the committee, chaired by Senator Betty Montet, grilled Taita Taveta Governor Andrew Mwadime and his executive team on the implementation of Early Childhood Development Education (ECDE) and Vocational Training Centres (VTCs) across the county.
The session is part of a massive nationwide oversight campaign and Senator Montet revealed that the committee has already engaged 41 county governments and conducted 23 physical county visits to inspect foundational education and vocational institutions.
Governor Mwadime presented an overview of the county’s achievements, noting that Taita Taveta currently operates 678 ECDE centres staffed by 326 teachers. Since devolution, the county has invested heavily in classroom construction, rehabilitation, and school feeding programs. However, the Senate was quick to point out significant departures from national standards.
Senator Prof. Margaret Kamar, the Committee’s Vice Chair, commended Taita Taveta’s clean documentation but raised immediate concerns about the physical learning environment, emphasizing that pre-primary classrooms must be equipped with child-friendly hexagonal tables to comply with the National Pre-Primary Education Policy.
The county’s Acting Education CECM, Shedrack Mutungi, conceded that the county has yet to procure the recommended furniture, promising the committee that the funds would be allocated in the upcoming financial year’s budget.
Another major point of friction was the lack of dedicated childcare services for children under the age of four. While Taita Taveta currently houses these toddlers within standard ECDE programs, the Senate noted this violates national policy frameworks. Senator Montet observed that the county has not yet established village-level Child Care Centres run by trained Child Care Officers. Governor Mwadime welcomed the feedback, admitting that the engagement serves as an important learning process to help the county align with national guidelines.
The committee also took issue with the heavy financial burden placed on parents and the low compensation of Board of Management (BOM) teachers, some of whom reportedly earn as little as Ksh. 5,000 to Ksh. 10,000 per month. Senator Seki Ole Lenku urged the county to progressively absorb all ECDE teachers onto its payroll to guarantee fair pay and uniformity.
Adding to the critique, Senator Johnnes Mwaruma reminded the county delegation that the National ECDE Policy clearly mandates that early childhood education should be free, warning that parents should not be burdened with extra fees for school operations. Governor Mwadime assured the Senate that his administration would review its budgetary allocations to ease the financial weight on local families.
The consultation also touched on the county’s 31 operational Vocational Training Centres (VTCs). While fully staffed by county-employed instructors, Governor Mwadime admitted that low enrollment continues to plague these institutions, noting that only 924 primary school graduates and 1,143 secondary school leavers have transitioned into Taita Taveta’s VTCs since January 2026.
To boost numbers, Senator Montet encouraged the county to keep upgrading and equipping these centers to lift the social stigma often associated with technical education, while the governor committed to improving special needs training and accessibility.
