• The PS spoke on Monday when he appeared before the National Assembly’s Public Accounts Committee.
• Belio decried that the amount set as capitation for Free Secondary School learners has never been increased despite a palpable population increase of learners in schools.
Image: PCS
The Ministry of Education has revealed why the capitation per learner for free secondary school education was slashed from Sh22,224 to Sh17,000.
Basic Education Principal Secretary Belio Kipsang said the amount was reduced due to the increased learner population despite the set budget of Sh65 billion remaining the same.
The PS spoke on Monday when he appeared before the National Assembly’s Public Accounts Committee, during the examination of the Report of the Auditor-General for the Year ended June 30, 2022, with regard to the Accounts of his State Department.
Belio decried that the amount set as capitation for Free Secondary School learners has never been increased despite a palpable population increase of learners in schools.
The amount allocated for Free Secondary Education capitation has been a blocked figure of around Sh65 billion.
Towards the end of January 2024, PS said the student population had increased by up to one million.
“We need to increase the blocked figure of around 65 billion shillings because when it was capped at Sh65 billion, our secondary school student population was 3.2 million but as of January 2024, we have 4.2 million students in our secondary school. But the amount that's continued to be given is around between Sh64 billion and Sh65 billion,” he said.
It is this increase in population that Belio said caused the Ministry to slash capitation per learner from Sh 22,224 to Sh 17,000.
“We can only divide that amount by the number of learners that we have today in our secondary schools standing at 4.2 million so that we can take care of kids in an appropriate amount,” the PS said.
"If we were to give Sh22,224 per student, then we would only fund 3.2 million children, meaning that you will not be funding 1 million students in our schools today.”
Belio sought that the capitation for Free Secondary education should be revised upwards.
He said together with the Education Committee, they are trying to find a way to increase the budgetary allocation.
“I want to confirm chair that this year with our education committee there was quite some good engagement and indications given that we shall be able to find a capitation at Sh22,224 times the number of learners,” Belio said.
Education Cabinet Secretary Ezekiel Machogu on March 6 said the capitation will be revised back to Sh22,224.
"We had gone down to Sh17,000 per year because of the very tight fiscal space we are operating in and the economic constraints but I think now the economy is improving and we should be able to get the figures which should be given to every student which is Sh22,244," the CS said during a stakeholders forum to discuss changes in laws governing the education sector at the Kenya Institute of Special Education.