Longhorn Partners With Meru County Government to Improve Education

By Juma / Published August 25, 2016 | 7:34 am

Longhorn Publishers Limited, the only company of its kind listed on the Nairobi Securities Exchange, has entered into a memorandum of understanding with the county of Meru to support ECDE and youth polytechnics in the region. This all-encompassing agreement helps the county government deliver on its promise of improving the education standards of its citizens.

This marks a continuation of the product diversification strategy outlined at the announcement of its financial results for the year ending 30th June 2016. The company sees these type of agreements as a way of increasing its sales of Kshs 1.5 billion (a growth of 77 per cent over 2015) in the face of industry-wide challenges.

Longhorn Publishers is uniquely equipped to realise this type of memorandum since it has a full complement of reference materials in different market segments and experience in undertaking similar agreements. The latter includes signing MOUs with the Catholic Diocese of Kitui, other county governments and teacher’s associations. The former includes the English (Cambridge) and Kiswahili (Kamusi Kuu) dictionary, religious texts (Good News Bible and the Revised Standard Version Bible), atlases (Comprehensive Primary School Atlas), amongst other segments.

Under this partnership, 900 ECDE teachers and caretakers have been trained, along with 100 managers and 400 instructors from local polytechnics. This raises the quality of education, both in terms of resourcing and delivery, from an early age. Under this initiative, the Meru County government has also absorbed all public ECDE care givers into its permanent and pensionable scheme in order to restore dignity to the handlers of our young ones. This intervention will help improve the lives of the care givers, since they will now have a pay slip and access to financial products and services.

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According to His Excellency, Governor Peter Munya, “by partnering with Longhorn Publishers, my government has organized capacity building workshops for all ECDE teachers in the county. The training provided them with the necessary skills and techniques in handling young learners. They also trained the polytechnic instructors and managers.”

Longhorn Publishers has facilitated the review of the Meru County Social Studies book for standard 4 pupils. This was launched at the1st Meru County Education Day, held at the Kenya Methodist University Ground.

Speaking during the launch, Longhorn Publisher’s Group Managing Director, Mr. Simon Ngigi, reiterated the company’s commitment to directly impacting the education and development of young people and adults in Kenya.

“We live by our mission of expanding minds through knowledge. This MOU with the Meru County government gives us an opportunity to not only provide the resources and digital content that furthers education at the ECDE and polytechnic level, but to also capacity build the teachers and instructors who educate our children.

“I commend Governor Munya’s efforts to improve education in the county; investing in education is the only way we can ensure our children have a brighter future, not only for the county, but for Kenya as a nation.

“Longhorn Publishers puts this challenge out to other counties; let us partner together to improve the lives of our children and safe guard the future of Kenya. Let us harness the spirit of devolution for a better future.” Mr. Ngigi said.

Mr. Ngigi further praised the county government’s efforts, saying these direct investments in education and training help ameliorate the tax on education arising from the VAT on books.

“The purchasing and distribution of the Meru County Social Studies book for standard 4 students is a direct way that the county government is placing the necessary resources in the hands of learners. We hope to work with more politicians and educationalists to abolish this pernicious tax on education.”

About Juma

Juma is an enthusiastic journalist who believes that journalism has power to change the world either negatively or positively depending on how one uses it.(020) 528 0222 or Email: info@sokodirectory.com

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