By Denis Lumiti
The Kakamega County Government has pumped close to Ksh 3 billion towards various education programmes, Governor Wycliffe Oparanya has said.
Dr. Oparanya said the funds were spent on building, renovating and expanding primary and secondary schools, county polytechnics and Early Childhood Development Education (ECDE) centres.
He said other funds were spent on bursaries and county Higher Education Loans Board loans, besides hiring of instructors for polytechnics and ECDE teachers.
He said enrolment in public ECDE centres rose from 3,055 in 2013 to over 124,000 this year because of the roll out of free ECDE education in 2017.
“The Department of Education in the county realized that the ECDEs’ managements had a challenge in the acquisition of a child-friendly learning environment. It is against this backdrop that my government budgeted for furniture for the 266 centres in all the 12 sub-counties,” he said.
The governor further said the county had partnered with the Kenya Literature Bureau to print and publish branded learning materials that have been distributed to the ECDE centres and polytechnics.
“In total we have spent Ksh. 49,398,164 on ECDE teaching and learning materials and Ksh. 24,149,860 for polytechnics,” he added.
Oparanya said they had hired 1,901 ECDE teachers and 246 instructors for polytechnics.
He said they were also changing the terms of service of the polytechnic instructors from contractual to permanent and pensionable.
The county boss said his administration had invested Ksh. 156 Million towards equipping of polytechnics and Ksh. 860 million on infrastructure development in public schools.
He pointed out that the county had also spent Ksh. 100 Million on the county HELB loans programme with 7,523 students benefiting.
“We have also supported the education of 1,101 trainees in various learning institutions under the Afya Elimu Yetu Loans programme,” he said.
The governor was speaking at the Bukhungu Stadium in Kakamega town when he launched the distribution of furniture to the ECDE centres across the county.
The desks were made by selected county polytechnics at a cost of Ksh. 54.5 Million.
