The former Kenya National Union of Teachers (KNUT) Secretary General Wilson Sossion has urged the Ministry of Education to stop routing funds for school sports through education offices, but instead do a direct disbursement to schools.
Speaking on Tuesday, June 17, 2025 at a local Tv station, Sossion said schools are the actual centers of co-curricular activity and should have full control over their sports budgets.
“Sports is domiciled in schools, not in education offices,” he emphasized, arguing that school management is better equipped to plan and account for the use of these funds.
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According to him, channeling the money through county or sub-county education offices introduces unnecessary bureaucracy and weakens accountability.
Sossion likened the situation to the centralized procurement of textbooks, which has often been criticized for lacking transparency and effectiveness. He noted that when funds pass through multiple layers, schools are left with little or no support on the ground, despite being the ones responsible for actual sports training and participation.
He also expressed concern over what he described as “double charging,” where education offices collect levies from schools for activities like drama, music festivals, and ball games, despite those events already being organized by established school associations.
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Sossion
Sossion urged the government to adopt a more decentralized funding model, where schools receive their full allocations directly from the national treasury or the Ministry of Education. This, he argued, would not only streamline operations but also allow school heads to better prepare and support students in co-curricular activities.
His comments come at a time when many schools are struggling to finance their participation in sports and other co-curricular competitions, often due to delayed disbursements or unclear budget frameworks from education offices.
By Benedict Aoya
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