- The government plans to build about 3,000 classrooms in the next three financial years to accommodate Junior secondary school learners.
- Treasury reports containing budget proposals indicate that at least 906 classrooms will be put up in the current financial year.
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A total of Sh3.4 billion will be allocated to Junior Secondary Schools to accelerate the construction of infrastructure, Supplementary Appropriation (No.3) Bill 2023 shows.
The Bill provided the money for counterpart funding with the National Government Constituencies Development Fund.
The funding has been reinforced by an additional allocation of Sh19.8 billion to the Teachers Service Commission for teacher resource management.
“Other interventions in the education sector include additional allocation for TVETs and capitation for JSS,” the National Assembly said in its brief on the Bill.
The government plans to build about 3,000 classrooms in the next three financial years to accommodate Junior secondary school learners.
The plan aims to bridge the infrastructure deficit as Grade 6 learners transit to Junior secondary school.
Treasury reports containing budget proposals indicate that at least 906 classrooms will be put up in the current financial year.
Another 936 and 964 are lined up in the 2024-25 and 2025-26 financial years respectively.
The government, according to the report by the Education sector working group, has also planned to construct 400 laboratories for the JSS students next year.
Another 837 laboratories are scheduled for the subsequent fiscal years with renovations slated for more than 6,100 schools within the same period.
The Supplementary Appropriation (No.3) Bill was published on November 17, 2023, and considered and passed by the National Assembly on November 21, 2023, with amendments.
The Bill seeks to increase the approved budget for the Financial Year 2023/2024 by Sh91.923 billion by granting authority for the issuance of an additional Sh33.717 billion from the Consolidated Fund.
It consists of an increase in recurrent expenditure of Sh57.318 billion; a reduction in the development expenditure of Sh23.600 billion and grants authority for expenditure of Appropriations-in-Aid amounting to Sh58.206 billion.
Further, the Bill seeks to regularise a total of Sh1.736 billion in expenditures utilised under Article 223 of the Constitution.
These expenditures were largely expended towards crop post-harvest management including the purchase of dryers and bulk storage facilities.
They were also expended towards Kenya Development Response to Displacement Impacts Project that is aimed at expanding economic opportunities and environmental resilience of vulnerable communities especially those hosting refugees.