Kisii County Governor James Ongwae has expressed his determination to support girl child education.

Governor Ongwae who was the chief gust at Itibo Girls Secondary School during the institution’s Prize Giving ceremony, Ongwae stressed that he is passionate about education of children particularly the girl child.

The school led by Rachael Mwagi recorded a mean score of 8.2 in the year 2015 compared to 7.5 and 5.73 recorded in the year 2014 and 2013 respectively.

Ongwae said that although education is not devolved, his administration has issued bursaries to bright and needy students noting that a total of Ksh. 5 million will be distributed soon in each of the 45 wards.

He observed that the County Bursary fund has boosted transition rates from primary to secondary and tertiary institutions and called on parents to invest on the education of their children saying no individual is likely to survive without proper education.

“Parents should take education of their children seriously as it is the only investment they can give them,’ he said.

Ongwae observed that counties are only in charge of Early Childhood Education while the ministry of education manages the rest of the education sector including infrastructure and called on the national Government to devolve both primary and secondary education to enable counties run and maintain schools.

He said counties unlike the national government can easily identify institutions whose infrastructure is wanting and act with speed.

Officials of Kenya Union of Post Primary Teachers (KUPPET) Kisii branch led by Omari Otungu (Secretary) and Osoro Okondo (Chairman) supported the governor’s concerns saying infrastructure in some schools was wanting.

The unionists thanked Ongwae for supporting education and pledged their support to the county government.