Kenya vows to invest heavily in education sector

A five-day international conference on education kicked off Wednesday in Nairobi, with Kenya pledging to invest heavily in education sector with specific emphasis on science and technology.

Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta, who opened the 8th Education International Africa Regional Conference, said the country's ambition to become a globally competitive and prosperous nation is accompanied by a commitment to maintain Kenya as the hub for education in Africa and the world.

The conference is organized by Education International (EI), which has a membership of 348 institutions representing more than 30 million individual institutions from 170 countries.

Kenyatta reiterated the government's determination to sustain the trend of investing heavily in the education sector to improve the literacy levels.

"The destiny of our youth rests in the skills and values education imparts on them. This is why there is a solid Africa- wide consensus that education must remain largely a public good," he said.

Kenyatta said modern education goals aspire to proceed beyond mere literacy and that was reason for the government's commitment to investing more resources on information and communication technology.

"The government will ensure that every school in the country is connected to electricity by the end of the current financial year, " he said.

He called on Kenyan teachers to be patient because great strides have been made over recent years in improving remuneration for teachers.

Kenyans should take pride in the fact that the education sector has been getting the biggest chunk of resources since independence despite the economic challenges, he said. Endi