By Staff Reporter
It has emerged that parents are among major stakeholders funding education in Kenya.
Fee payment and other indirect expenses borne by them are key in meeting education costs, according to the latest statistics from the Ministry of Education.
The Basic Education Statistical Booklet 2019 report released on 14th November 2020 by Education Cabinet Secretary Prof. George Magoha says the national government and households are the largest two funders of education.
During the 2018/19 Financial Year (FY), 53per cent and 33 per cent of spending in the sector were from the national government and households respectively.
“Household expenditure consists of fees and other indirect expenses borne by parents towards meeting costs of education. Internally generated revenue and county governments are other important sources of funding for the sector,” reveals the report.
Generally, the education sector spent Sh768.5 billion in the 2018/19 FY up from Sh625.6 billion in the 2016/17 FY.
The Statistic booklet report is the outcome of the 17 member taskforce that was established by the CS in June last year under the leadership of Prof. Fatuma Chege, with a purpose of enhancing access, relevance, transition, equity and quality for effective curriculum reforms among other duties.
The taskforce in its findings states that the total government allocation to the education sector rose by 27 per cent from Sh344,359 million in 2017 to Sh471,846 million in 2018/19 FY. The teacher resource management programme accounted for the largest expenditure over the three years taking 50 percent of the total education sector allocation in 2018/19 FY.
The expenditure under teacher management was mainly for salaries for teachers in primary and secondary schools. University education was allocated Sh108, 865, which accounted for 23% of expenditure.
Primary and secondary education programmes took up four per cent and 15 per cent, respectively, with expenditure mainly catering for free primary and secondary education, and capital expenditure for infrastructure improvement.
“The Ministry of Education (MoE) is cognizant of the critical role played by accurate, credible and real time data in planning, policy formulation, resource allocation and overall management of the education sector in Kenya,” said Prof. Magoha.
He added that over the years, the Ministry has put in place structures and systems to ensure collection, storage, retrieval and use of credible, reliable and accurate data.
The statistics further shows that recurrent spending for the secondary education programme increased from Sh32,290 in 2016/17 FY to Sh63,389 in 2018/19 FY due to Free Day Secondary Education (FDSE).
It was further pushed up by the government’s target to ensure 100 per cent transition to secondary schools, with a reduction in the capital expenditure targeted to expand secondary schools to Sh5.3 bn in the 2018/19 FY from Sh8.5 bn in the 2016/17 FY.
The primary education programme was found to be the second spender with a large share of the programme being Free Primary Education (FPE) capitation grants, and quality assurance and standards and general administration being allocated the other funding.
The taskforce came up with a number of recommendations to the education sector key among them being developing a NEMIS Policy and Regulations.
The policy will ensure that the education sector has a systematic process of data collection, collation, storage and analysis as well as reporting and dissemination of statistical reports nationally and internationally.
Standards will be prescribed so that credibility, timeliness and relevance of data is assured.
It also recommended that databases in agencies dealing with education and other relevant government ministries be integrated and data capture made real time, devoid of human interference.
The policy will facilitate periodic data collection and reporting as demanded by the users and policy makers.
Prof. Chege-led taskforce recommended the need to establish a collaborative framework on data Management with County Governments.
It says: “ECDE data is crucial in informing reforms such as the implementation of the Competency Based Curriculum and the monitoring of County ECDE programmes. In this regard, the Ministry will work closely with county Governments to ensure that ECDE data is integrated in the national education statistics system.”
In addition, the taskforce recommends carrying out periodic validation of data in NEMIS since education statistics are dynamic and are affected by the national and regional demographic patterns.
In order to enhance the quality and credibility of data, and carry out its quality assurance at institutional level there is a need for a bi-annual validation of data in the NEMIS.
“I also wish to underscore the importance of synergies between the Ministry of Education, the Teachers Service Commission (TSC), the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) and other government entities in collection, storage, retrieval and use of credible, reliable and accurate basic education data,” said Prof. Magoha.
