Education on a budget

When money is tight peace doesn't seem to last long. At least that's the case in Kenya currently. As the sector with the biggest allocation of public funds in the annual budget, one wouldn't be faulted for expecting less trouble there during these tough times. But that's not the case. The ink hadn't dried on the return-to-work agreement before bitter exchanges ensued between stakeholders as the interns' saga found its way back to court. Déjà vu?

Here are the main stories in Education this week:

• Parliament questions CUE student placements
• Budget cuts risk school feeding program
• Two Kenyan schools shortlisted for global prizes

SPOTLIGHT

TSC on the spot - another strike brewing?

The Kenya Union of Post-Primary Education Teachers (KUPPET) has threatened the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) with a nationwide strike and court action over the recent sacking of 742 Junior Secondary School intern teachers.

The TSC dismissed the Junior Secondary School (JSS) intern teachers for going on strike to push for permanent and pensionable employment. They were among thousands who downed tools across the country.

On May 22, TSC sent show-cause letters to the protesting teachers who had absconded their duties. They were required to submit their responses in two weeks. Out of 10,348 teachers who received the show-cause letters, TSC says only 9,606 teachers were able to respond within the two weeks.

"Of them, 742 teachers who did not report to work and whose whereabouts were not known had their contracts terminated and replaced," -TSC 

Kuppet has now accused TSC of acting in bad faith after both parties signed a return-to-work formula on June 1. At the time, both parties agreed that teachers who resumed work by June 3, 2024, should not be victimised for engaging in the strike.

The teachers, who had been on strike since April 17, called off their strike after the National Assembly’s Labour and Education committees agreed to some of their demands and presented them to the budget committee ahead of budget presentation.

“We have given the commission 14 days to convene a meeting with us, so that we can address the impasse. However, if they fail, we will resort to industrial action and call for all teachers to support our sacked colleagues,”
– Edward Obwocha, KUPPET National Secretary of Secondary Schools

The show goes on. All parties could argue a valid case from where they sit and we can keep going back and forth on this even with more funding in the new financial year. But is there a scenario here where everyone wins? At the moment, the biggest losers are the students whose futures hang in the balance.

HEADLINES

The week's main stories

• Parliament questions CUE student placements. The Commission for University Education (CUE) has been questioned as to how they approved the placement of excess students in some public & private universities during the 2024-2025 student placement cycle. The commission had appeared alongside the Higher Education Principal Secretary Beatrice Muganda to answer queries over the university education admission and funding model.
• Budget cuts risk school feeding program. The National Parents Association has warned the school feeding programme is headed for collapse due to massive budgetary cuts. “At the rate of Sh20 per day per learner, the available budget can only provide school meals for 98 days, which is just about 61 per cent of the total school days in a year,” said NPA CEO, George Sikulu.
• Two Kenyan schools shortlisted for global prizes. The Kakenya Centre for Excellence, a government-funded girls' primary boarding school in Kilgoris, Narok County, and Nova Pioneer Tatu City, an independent kindergarten through secondary school in Nairobi, Kenya, are the country’s only schools to be shortlisted among the 10 best learning institutions in five categories for the World’s Best Schools Prizes 2024. See the full list and vote here.

INSIGHT

Big learning budget - more or less?

“On improving Education outcomes the government continues to invest in education to create a level playing field for all Kenyan children. From this end I have proposed a total allocation of KES 657 billion to the education sector,”
Treasury CS, Njuguna Ndung’u

The good

Education has received a KES 28 billion increase in budgetary allocation for the upcoming financial year. The Treasury has proposed a budget allocation of KES 656.6 billion for the sector in the 2024/25 financial year compared to KES 628.6 billion in 2023/24. The amount represents 27.6% of total government expenditure in the proposed KES 4.0 trillion budget. Education has been one of the sectors that have seen an increased allocation in a contentious budget that is still the subject of heated debate.

The split

The broad distribution is as follows:

• Teachers Service Commission: KES 358.2 billion
• Basic education: KES 142.3 billion
• Higher learning & research: KES 128.0 billion
• Technical & vocational training: KES 30.7 billion

Some priority areas considered in this budget included Free Primary Education, Free Day Secondary Education and school infrastructure development. For the Higher Education Loans Board (HELB), the CS allocated Sh35.9 billion for university and TVET students. 

It is noteworthy that the CS did not mention the school feeding program when he read the budget allocations for the Ministry of Education.

The challenge

In a sector that’s central to long-term prosperity, perennial disputes & challenges around funding would give the impression that not enough money is allocated to education. As a sector that gets the largest government funds, a question worth asking is where the failure points exist within the sector based on the allocated funds.

A comparative look at last year’s budget would provide more insight as to why this sector continues to struggle primarily with funding. We invite comments and views from industry stakeholders as the custodians of long term solutions.

PAUSE

NEWS

What else we learned

• The number of students placed in private universities by the KUCCPS almost doubled with 18,557 applications this year compared to 9,622 last year. Private universities have a cumulative declared capacity of 57,322 vacancies. Mount Kenya University (MKU) received the highest number of applications at 3,226. Apart from the placement by KUCCPS, private universities also admit students directly.
• "Our worry is that the lecturers will be overworked because to teach such kind of students you need a good number of lecturers. We have been pushing the government to recruit more lecturers because they are overworked," said Universities Academic Staff Union (UASU) Organising Secretary Onesmus Mutio in an interview.
• In the recently released National Education Sector Strategic Plan 2023-2027 the Ministry of Education has raised alarm over new threats that not only risk harming school children but also disrupt their education forcing some to drop out. The plan also tackles the rising cases of non-communicable diseases, mental health issues, and HIV infections among students, teachers, and adolescents.

QUICK

One liners

• International Day of Play celebrated with calls for more playtime [The Standard]
• Agency keen to empower JS teachers and learners on STEM subjects [Kenya News Agency]
• CS Machogu: Why universities should collaborate with industries [Nairobi Leo]
• Without adequate funds, we'll not achieve much from CBC [The Standard]

REGION

What's happening next door?

[UG] Ibanda develops system to monitor student, teacher performance [New Vision]

[UG] Nurses exam body introduces plagiarism checks to combat academic dishonesty [The Observer]

[UG] The African Rural University Wins UNESCO Award for Innovative Education Model. ARU is the first University to incorporate Traditional Wisdom Specialists as Professors without Papers in Higher Education. ARU embraces Tradition Wisdom Specialists and indigenous knowledge to create a new paradigm for Rural Transformation and Rural Education. This approach integrates traditional wisdom with modern academic disciplines and community fieldwork. [Nile Post]

[TZ] How FCF 11.5m/- monthly fund implements school feeding programme. [Daily News]

[TZ] Ten Tanzanian education-based startups to get funding. These innovative solutions will enable students to access various lessons through technology, obtain study notes, and help track student attendance. [The Citizen]

[RW] Ntare School set to impact Rwanda’s sports sector [New Times]

[RW] Cardinal Kambanda roots for talent promotion in schools. The Archbishop of Kigali, has called for the promotion of talent in schools, stressing its vital role in nurturing young minds. “I encourage teachers to guide students after discovering their talents. These children are tomorrow's doctors, judges, leaders, dancers, and singers,” Kambanda said. [New Times]

EXTRA

What to ask the Kenya Finance Bill GPT?

This week, a Kenyan developer, Kelvin Onkundi, created a custom GPT that allows anyone to better understand the Kenya Finance Bill 2024.

This is a good demonstration of someone using these freely available tools to enhance our knowledge of subjects. If you haven't already, try it out here:

ChatGPT - Finance Bill GPT

Get to understand the Kenya Finance Bill 2024

ChatGPT

It may not always feel like it, but there's a lot to stay optimistic about the future of our education sector despite the challenges it continues to face. Cutting through the noise allows us to see the real issues and work with what's in our hands to create better long-term outcomes. We can all play a part in creating solutions from where we are.

"None of us is as smart as all of us."
– Ken Blanchard

We hope you enjoyed this edition and thank you for your reader feedback.