KILIFI county senator hopeful Naomi Cidi has blamed the ministry of Education for Coast region's poor performance in national examinations.

The politician claims nothing has been done to address the poor academic performance among the region's schools.

She asked residents to elect focused leaders into county governments and defended teachers and pupils for working against all odds after the ministry allegedly failed to advocate for the improvement of necessary facilities.

Speaking yesterday during a campaign meeting at Kwambaji area, in Rabai district, the Shirikisho Party of Kenya candidate said majority of pupils in Taita/Taveta, Lamu, Kilifi, Kwale and Tana River lack basic equipment to ensure positive examination results.

"This has been going on for the last 50 years and there has been no minister for education who has taken the initiative to push the government to put in place basic infrastructure to boost performance," said Cidi.

Her sentiments come barely a day after education minister Mutula Kilonzo released results for the 2012 Kenya Certificate of Primary Education. Coast counties trailed the county ranking with Mombasa, Kilifi, Taita/Taveta, Lamu, Kwale and Tana River ranked positions 35, 40, 41,42,43 and 44 out of the 47 respectively.

"The teachers are forced to improvise learning and teaching resources to teach pupils who have no desks, classrooms and libraries, among other basic requirements. They should be commended for a job well done instead of being condemned," said Cidi.

She said hundreds of pupils were learning under trees for acute shortage of classrooms and challenged leaders to partner with education officials in addressing the challenges the pupils are facing.

He said the results had been haunting job seekers who face a competitive job market with up-country counterparts and blamed the trend for the high unemployment rate among the youth.

"Our children will continue being marginalised at the national job market where degrees have become a prerequisite because they don't get chance of going to the best secondary schools," she said.