- The sector will get 656.6 billion of the Sh3.92 trillion fiscal estimates, translating into 27.6 per cent.
- This is an increase from the Sh544.4 billion given to the sector in the 2023/24 financial year.
The education sector is among the top winners in the 2024/25 national budget after it was allocated almost 30 per cent of the funds.
The sector will get 656.6 billion of the Sh3.92 trillion fiscal estimates, translating into 27.6 per cent. This is an increase from the Sh544.4 billion given to the sector in the 2023/24 financial year.
Of these funds, Sh358.2 billion will go to the teachers’ employer Teachers Service Commission, Sh142.3 billion will go to the department of basic education that oversees the primary and secondary schools while Sh128 billion will go to the department of higher education and research.
This sum also includes Sh12.5 billion for the free primary education programme, Sh65.4 billion for the free day secondary schooling programme.
This sum includes the funds for EduAfya medical health cover programme that has been giving health insurance to students and is overseen by the NHIF.
Department for TVETs will get Sh30.7 billion.
Sh5 billion for national examination fee waiver including the sums that were charged for the KCPE and KCSE exams fees.
The Kenya National Examination Council has been struggling to meet some of its obligations, including paying examiners on time, with some national test markers downing their tools at some point, protesting the delays, hence crippling the administration of the tests.
But education sector players including activists complain that the problem with the management of the education system in the country is the delay of the exchequer releases that makes it hard for school managers to run the institutions.
The budget also allocated some Sh30.7 billion for capitation of the junior secondary school.
Some Sh13.4 billion has been set aside for the employment of the junior school teachers on permanent and pensionable terms.
The JSS teachers have been on a prolonged strike that only ended days ago agitating for employment on permanent terms.
They were also complaining about salary delays, poor facilitation in the doing their work and an alleged neglect of their issues by the national government.
The commission got Sh1 billion against its requested Sh2.2 billion for promoting teachers.
Promotion of the teachers has been a hot potato because most of them complain they have acquired higher qualification but their employer has left them to stagnate at their job levels without promotion and increasing salaries.
It also got Sh4.8 billion to recruit more teachers on permanent and pensionable terms as well as another Sh4.8 billion for converting some Sh20,000 teachers who were on contracts to permanent and pensionable terms.
The commission also got another Sh1.3 billion to train teachers on the newly rolled out CBC curriculum.
On higher education, the budget doubled the sum allocated to the Higher Education Loans Board from Sh15 billion to Sh30 billion as the new university and TVET funding model begins.
The model does a way with the automatic allocation of loans to tertiary learners and replaces it with case-by-case system that mixes loans, grants and scholarships as well as household support to the learners. Higher education has been given Sh97 billion.
School going girls will benefit from free sanitary pads through a programme allocated Sh940 million.