Ogamba faulted over facilitation of learners at music jamboree

Education Cabinet Secretary Julius Ogamba is in a spot over facilitation of school children participating in the ongoing music festivals.

Members of the National Assembly were yesterday unsatisfied with assertions by CS Ogamba that the ministry was footing the bill for pupils and students in the Kenya Music Festivals, as well as recently concluded ball games.

Ogamba, who skipped a plenary appearance, said his ministry funded such co-curricular activities through the capitation disbursed to primary and junior secondary fees.

In a statement to the National Assembly, he said every primary school child received Sh76 annually, an allocation meant to fund their participation in sports and performing arts events.

Those in the free day secondary school programme benefit from a Sh1,500 annual allocation for co-curricular activities, which is based on the budget of respective schools, he said.

The CS added that the ministry retains Sh40 from primary school learners and Sh500 from those in secondary schools as part of the capitation. Schools pool these meagre allocations, which fund activities of their learners who participate in extra-curricular activities. This year’s music festivals began on August 4 and will run until August 16.

“These funds are intended to support co-curricular activities at the sub-county, county, regional and national levels,” Ogamba said in a statement read by Tinderet MP Julius Melly, who chairs the National Assembly’s Education Committee.

According to the CS, sub-counties get Sh155,000 from the Education Ministry to fund Term Two activities, with sub-counties receiving Sh505,000. Regional education offices receive Sh1.2 million, an amount he termed “inadequate”.

He said the ministry partly facilitates meals, transport, accommodation, water provisions, medical services and championship costs, among others, highlighting that their budget was dependent on budgetary availability.

Ogamba’s statement was in response to Emuhaya MP Omboko Milemba, who had questioned why learners in Meru and the secondary school ball games in Kakamega had been left stranded.

Similarly, Milemba had questioned allegations that education officials at lower levels were forcing school heads to surrender capitation funds once disbursed.