School laptops cash cut by half to Sh6.7 billion

What you need to know:

  • The Treasury had allocated an additional Sh13.4 billion to the Jubilee government flagship programme in financial year 2016/2017, down from Sh17 billion the previous year.
  • The National Assembly has further cut it through the supplementary budget aimed at freeing funds to run the repeat presidential election set for October 26 and other more urgent programmes.
  • The Jubilee administration promised to deliver one laptop per Class One pupil upon its election in 2013 but the programme has been dogged by delays over costs.

The budget for school laptops has been slashed by half to Sh6.7 billion in the year ending June, becoming one of the biggest casualties of the reorganised expenditure plans.

The Treasury had allocated an additional Sh13.4 billion to the Jubilee government flagship programme in financial year 2016/2017, down from Sh17 billion the previous year.

The National Assembly has further cut it through the supplementary budget aimed at freeing funds to run the repeat presidential election set for October 26 and other more urgent programmes.

The Jubilee administration promised to deliver one laptop per Class One pupil upon its election in 2013 but the programme has been dogged by delays over costs.

Its implementation started in May last year with 150 selected schools, setting stage for a national rollout.

The reckons the free laptops have not reached all schools estimated at over 22,000 β€” which nearly all have grid electricity.

More than one million class one pupils had been targeted in the programme with the government saying that more than 60,000 teachers have been trained to support digital learning.