• Free day Secondary education has been allocated Sh64.4 billion which will also cover NHIF cover for students.
• Sh12 billion will cater for free primary education programme.
Image: ENOS TECHE
The Education sector has been allocated Sh544.4 billion in the 2022-2023 budget proposals, taking the biggest chunk of President Uhuru Kenyatta's last budget.
The budget estimates were presented in Parliament by Treasury CS Ukur Yatani on Thursday, April 7, 2022.
The 2022-2023 budget stood at Sh3.31 trillion, equivalent to 23.9 per cent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
Last year, Education was allocated Sh503.9 billion in a Sh3.66 trillion budget.
In this year's budget, Sh12 billion will cater for the Free Primary Education programme. This was the same amount allocated in last year's budget.
The Teachers Service Commission has been allocated Sh2.5 billion for recruitment of teachers.
Free day Secondary education has been allocated Sh64.4 billion which is inclusive of NHIF medical cover for students.
A further Sh5 billion has been set aside to cater for examination fees waiver for Grade 6, Class 8 and Form 4 candidates.
The school feeding programme has been allocated Sh1.96 billion.
Some Sh1.2 billion will be utilized in training teachers on the Competency Based Curriculum (CBC).
The digital literacy programme received Sh310 million which will also go into ICT integration in secondary schools.
Last year, the Digital Literacy Program received Sh420 million.
Yatani said a further Sh4 billion has been allocated for construction of classrooms.
Another Sh2.8 billion was allocated to support school infrastructure development in both primary and secondary schools as learners transition to junior secondary.
This amount has been slashed by half considering last year, Treasury set aside Sh4.2 billion for infrastructure development in schools.
TVETs and vocational training institutes were allocated Sh1.8 billion for construction and equipping of the institutions. This was the same mount allocated last year.
Other expenditure allocations in the education sector include Sh294.7 billion for the Teachers Service Commission, Sh91.2 billion for university education and Sh15.8 billion for the Higher Education Loans board.
Last year, TSC received Sh281.7 billion, University Education got Sh76.3 billion while the High Education Loans Board (HELB) received Sh15.8 billion, same as this year.
Kenya Secondary School Education Quality Improvement project was allocated Sh6.8 billion while Sh5.2 billion is capitation for TVET students and Sh971 million for promotion of youth employment.
Last year, the education improvement project got Sh5.8 billion, Sh5.2 billion was set aside for TVET capitation and Sh633 million for promotion of youth employment.
In this year's budget, a further Sh527 million has been set aside for technical vocational education training and entrepreneurship while Sh323 million has been allocated for the national research fund.
Yatani said the huge budgetary allocation to the education sector is part of ongoing radical changes in the education sector to improve the quality of education.
He noted that heavy investment on education saw an increase in the number of primary schools from 26,549 to 32,437 while secondary schools grew from 7,174 to 10,413 between 2012 and 2020.
He said TVETS grew from 701 to 2,301 over the same period.
“As a show of unprecedented success, transition to secondary schools grew from 64.5 per cent in 2012 to the current 100 per cent,” Yatani said.
“In addition, under the radical competency based curriculum, the plan for first group to join junior secondary in January 2023 is well on course,” he added.
Yatani said Kenya’s economy demonstrated remarkable resilience amidst the Covid-19 pandemic shock in 2020 and staged a strong recovery in 2021.
He said the economy recovered at a rate of 9.9 per cent in the third quarter of 2021.
Overall, the economy is estimated to have grown by 7.6 per cent in 2021 from a contraction of 0.3 per cent in 2020.
“The economy is expected to stabilize at 6 per cent supported by recovery in Agriculture, industry and service sectors,” Yatani said.
The service sector include the hotel and tourism industry.
The projected total revenue to be collected under the 2022-2023 fiscal year is estimated at Sh2.4 trillion equivalent to 17.5 per cent of the GDP.
Some Sh2.14 trillion will be ordinary revenue (15.3% of GDP).
“We shall continue to review tax expenditure to boost tax revenue collection,” Yatani said.