Students teach themselves as money remains the main problem

Mixed messaging seems to be the theme for the last week of May. JSS interns were on strike despite more promises from the government while university funding (and the lack of it) caused a stir among higher education stakeholders. The world also observed Menstrual Hygiene Day with administrative changes proposed in Kenya to improve pad distribution for primary school girls. Meanwhile, thousands of students still haven't returned to school after the floods - one NGO is trying to help.

Here are the main stories in Education this week:

• Murang'a County pilots school feeding program
• JSS interns to be permanently employed from July
• Government adjusts half-term break dates

SPOTLIGHT

NFM: New Funding Model Not For Most

Following a meeting with university vice-chancellors at State House, President William Ruto justified the government's push to have the New Funding Model (NFM) for higher learning institutions in place insisting it's the only way to end the debt crisis plaguing public universities.

“The vice-chancellors confirmed that the financing model is working and in 3 years will sort out the financial challenges facing our universities,” –President William Ruto

NFM replaces the Differentiated Unit Cost (DUC) model previously used to finance universities where the government issued capitation funds to tertiary institutions every financial year. This new funding framework initiated in 2023 eliminates automatic government sponsorship for students who attain the cut-off points to join public universities.

“This new model is not working and is instead frustrating students in both universities and TVETs by overburdening them with huge loans without any option,” Zipporah Wacera from Karatina University

Despite the government pumping over Sh24 billion into the NFM since its launch last year, student leaders have termed it an ‘overburden to poor families’. The student leaders said they were not involved in the initial process, adding that the system would end up enslaving them through loans.

During the opening of a two-day workshop on Evaluation of the NFM, Principal Secretary (PS) in the State Department for Higher Education and Research in the Ministry of Education, Dr Beatrice Inyangala said adopting this model was aimed at ensuring the full cost of implementing programmes in universities was taken care of to solve the financial woes bedevilling universities

As things currently stand, thousands of students who sat the Kenya Certificate Secondary Education (KCSE) examination last year may not join universities after the government drastically slashed funding for tuition and upkeep loans. As a result of the 2024/2025 Budget Proposals for HELB Loans under the NFM, HELB has a financing deficit of Sh11.4 billion in the FY 2024/25 proposed estimates. With the available funding, HELB can fund all continuing students but only 17.2% of the students who will be joining university in 2024. 

The NFM, while well intended, is facing an early test with a very high cost to failure. The model may not be serving the people it was meant to. If that is the case, it raises even more questions.

HEADLINES

The week's main stories

• Murang'a County pilots school feeding program. The programme will see parents contribute only Sh20 per plate for their children. The programme piloted in 55 schools is being implemented in partnership with Food 4 Education which provides subsidised food for vulnerable children in public primary schools to improve their lives and performance.
• JSS interns to be permanently employed from July. The strike by Junior Secondary School (JSS) intern teachers, which had threatened to paralyse education, could end after the TSC was allocated KES 28.88 billion in the next financial year to absorb the tutors on permanent and pensionable terms. Some junior secondary school learners have been forced to teach themselves as the ongoing interns' strike continues to bite.
• Government adjusts half-term break dates. All learners will break for half-term on June 26, 2024, to June 28, 2024, according to the announcement made by Education Principal Secretary Belio Kipsang. The changes were occasioned by the government's decision to push forward the opening dates for schools from the initial April 29, 2024, to May 13, 2024, after massive floods affected many parts of the country.

INSIGHT

Women Reps to take over sanitary towels program

“In this era we should not be having children miss classes because they cannot have access to pads”- Agnes Catherine Okello, parent at Orwamuge Primary School

Yet Mr Charles Dickens Owinyi, district education officer of Abim, says at least 86% of girls in Karamoja don’t finish primary education. Awach Primary School didn’t have a water facility 50 years after its establishment until Absa Bank Uganda and World Vision partnered to build one.

Closer to home, County Women Representatives will now oversee Kenya's free sanitary towels for school girls programme. Over the years, the programme has rotated in various ministries but none seemed to get consistent distribution right. As the programme shifts from the Ministry of Education to the State Department for Gender, what will be different this time?

NGAAF CEO Roy Telewa says, “Women members of Parliament, who advocate for menstrual hygiene can amplify their voices more effectively. The Ministry is developing a framework based on the number of schools in each county, which has been the basis for previous distributions.” In his opinion, the discrepancies in the number of girls receiving pads have been more of a budgeting problem.

The sanitary pads programme was rolled out in 2011 and women representatives were first elected in 2013. In May 2019, Janet Mbugua filed a petition demanding MPs to implement the Menstrual Health Management Policy to ensure the distribution of sanitary pads. Her Inua Dada Foundation, established in 2013, received a sh.15 million grant from USAID in 2023 to fight period poverty. Let's see what the women representatives can accomplish with a budget of sh.940 million and their voices.

Learn more about the World Menstrual Hygiene Day here.

PAUSE

NEWS

What else we learned

• Education CS Ezekiel Machogu has said the government will not tolerate wrangles in the University of Nairobi and directed the institution’s management to call itself to order. Machogu said Vice-Chancellor, Prof Gitahi Kiama and Council Chairman, Prof Amukowa Anangwe should immediately solve arising differences and allow the university to run smoothly.
• iHUB Kenya has announced 12 innovative EdTech start-ups joining the second cohort of the Mastercard Foundation EdTech Fellowship. By supporting start-ups that leverage technology to address the most pressing educational challenges, iHUB aims to increase access to quality, relevant, and inclusive learning for all, especially young learners in underserved communities.
• With the school feeding programme in limbo, after the government cut funding, there is a fresh push to sustain it through climate-friendly cooking solutions. The new cooking model alligns with climate conservation strategies and will extend to opening a financing avenue for the school feeding programme through an accumulation of carbon credits.

QUICK

One-liners

• Nearly 500,000 learners yet to report back to school – lobby [The Star]
• Teso North Unveils Plan To Boost Education Infrastructure And Hybrid Learning [Kenya News Agency]
• Free AI platform helping to bridge education gap in the CBC transformation [NTV Kenya]
• 22 more top students sent to Ivy League universities by KenSAP [The Star]
• KNEC Issues Warning Over Fake Certificate Upgrades and Replacements [Nairobi Leo]

REGION

What's happening next door?

[UG] Govt starts re-registration of all private TVET institutions [New Vision]

[UG] In Kalungu, floods have kept a school closed and residents are disillusioned [Nile Post]

[UG] Storm-hit schools remain in ruins as Second Term starts: According to Ms Jane Jakijjoba, the chairperson of the school management committee, they might not open for the second term because all classrooms are still in ruins. No relief assistance from either government or humanitarian agencies has been delivered to the affected area to date. [Daily Monitor]

[TZ] Govt touts private sector’s role in education [Daily News]

[TZ] Nurturing dreams and building futures with STEM [The Citizen]

[TZ] Former Tanzanian President Kikwete calls for education and food system overhaul: Speaking in Nairobi on May 27 during the AfDB annual meetings, former President Jakaya Kikwete has called for a transformation of Africa’s education and food systems to ensure adequate feeding of school children. Kikwete said it’s high time that the African continent finds new & innovative ways to finance school meals. [The Citizen]

[RW] Rwanda Coding Academy set to accommodate more students: Estimated at Rwf 6.2 billion, the project will include modern teaching and boarding facilities, with completion expected within 18 months. Figures by the TVET Board show that the current student capacity stands at 360 which will increase to 540 students upon completion of the new school. [New Times]

DEBATE

How big is the first mover advantage for early adopters of AI in education?

In last week’s edition, we mentioned Khan Academy and its founder’s book on the future of AI in education. This short video is an example of what they’re currently doing for teachers. It’s interesting to see some of the immediate applications of AI in education evolve. Will unfair advantages widen if teaching applications of these technologies locally are unguided? What approach would benefit the most students and what are we doing to catch up?

That concludes this week's edition of This Week In: Education. As always, we hope you found it valuable. Share any views or feedback so we may improve the newsletter for you and other readers.