Sh6bn set aside for free education

Schools countrywide open a new academic year on Monday as the government released Sh6 billion for the free learning programme.

The institutions usher in a year expected to bring sweeping reforms in the management of education under the new Constitution.

Also targeted are renewed efforts to lift performance in public schools.

Education permanent secretary James ole Kiyiapi on Sunday said the Sh6 billion released would go to the secondary schools first, while the primary schools will receive their funds on Monday, next week.

“This follows a new arrangement where the government will be sending the free learning funds to schools at the beginning of every term for ease in planning,” he said.

The government has in the past been sending the money in line with the fiscal year that clashed with the schools’ academic year, inconveniencing school managers.

Prof Kiyiapi said under the new arrangement, the government would release 50 per cent of the money in the first term, 30 per cent in the second term and the rest during the third term of the school calendar.

“This is a part of reforms we are implementing in remitting the free learning money so that schools can plan accordingly,” he said, adding that suppliers sometimes failed to deliver to schools since the government released the money late.

But the amount allocated to each child under the programme has not been reviewed since it started in 2003 where a pupil in primary school gets Sh1,020 and those in secondary Sh10,265 per year to cater for their tuition and cost of learning materials.

This is in contrast to some parents, who spend up to Sh180,000 per year for a child in a private school (according to a survey by the Nation).

The cost of living has been on an upward spiral and what Sh1,020 could buy in 2003 is far much less what it can purchase today.

Only on Sunday, the Kenya Publishers Association announced that it would effect a 12 per cent increase on the prices of all text books this term.

The association’s boss, Ms Nancy Karimi, said the rising cost of production had necessitated the increase. January is usually the peak time for book publishers and sellers as students move to different levels of education.

Last year the publishers increased the prices by 10 per cent. However, Prof Kiyiapi said the question should not be to compare students in private or public schools rather to look at the access to education they were all receiving.

“This is why we want to use the results of the just-released Kenya Certificate of Primary Education exam to help understand the shortcomings of the system.”

In that exam, candidates from private schools dominated top positions nationally and provincially, leaving questions on quality differences begging for answers.

As the candidates were the first to sit the exam since the free learning programme was crafted, the PS noted that the results would be ideal in providing feedback on how to improve the system.