Finance Bill puts more money in education but gaps still abound

To put Government of Kenya's spending on education in the African context, in 2021 the education budget was about 4.8 per cent of GDP, compared to South Africa at 6.6 per cent, and Mauritius at 4.9 per cent. The two countries are ahead of Kenya in terms of industrialisation, as indicated by a manufacturing competitive index.

Overall, Kenya has over 18.2 million children and youth in education and training. Of these, 14.2 million attend private and public primary and secondary schools, and 562,000 are in Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) institutions.

Enrolment in universities in 2022 was about 562,000 (similar to numbers in TVET) for degree courses. The rest, about 2.9 million, are in early childhood education. From a long-term perspective, the question is what drives the budgetary allocation across the education sub-sectors.

Foundational learning

For example, if the country's long-term policy is to strengthen foundational learning, such as literacy and numeracy skills, then more investments should be in early learning and basic education.

Alternatively, if the policy is to strengthen technical skills and innovations, perhaps more investments should be seen in TVET; and if we want more technologist and research, perhaps we should put more money at the university level. Having a clear long-term investment policy for the education sector will require an emphasis on a targeted programme, but it does not mean ignoring other areas.

The Finance Bill does not provide a clear long-term policy direction for education investment. However, like its predecessors, it attempts to spread budget growth across the four main spending areas - basic education that includes primary and secondary education, TVET, higher education and research, and Teachers Service Commission (TSC).

Treasury CS Njuguna Ndung'u (centre). [Boniface Okendo, Standard]

This includes funding for the country's free primary schooling at Sh1,420 ($11) per student and free secondary school education programme at Sh22,244 ($171) per student, as well as funding the special needs education.

Since more children are now entering CBC and JSS, we are likely to see tensions that will be manifested in poor or inadequate quality infrastructure, and teaching and learning materials. While the Finance Bill has ensured continuity, it does not reflect needs created by Covid-19 such as strengthening systems resilience, addressing the decline in learning outcomes and, most importantly, the much-needed resources to enhance foundational literacy and numeracy.

Finally, TVET has receive an increment of about 10 per cent compared to the last financial year. However, this sub-sector still gets a small proportion (about five per cent) of the education budget in two consecutive financial years. Yet this is a critical sub-sector because unemployment among youth aged 15-24 stands at around 22 per cent. TVET's focus on acquisition of skills sought after in the job market provides an opportunity to tackle challenges such as skills mismatch that hinder a smooth transition from school to work.

TVET provides opportunities for skill development that could ultimately lead to employment. Though the proportion of the budget allocated is low, the budgetary allocation keep increasing every year - an indication of a deliberate policy to invest in TVET.

At this rate, TVET will overtake the university budget in future, a deliberate and perhaps well-informed policy. Currently, enrollment in TVET matches enrolment in universities. What the Finance Bill has missed, just like its predecessors, is the provision for off-campus training, so that more training takes place in the industry, a move that would induce more relevance in skills.

The Finance Bill provides an indication of where education money is going and it is clear that the silent budgeting policy was largely to maintain the status quo - perhaps an indication of the hard times all sectors, including the citizens, are going through.

On the positive side, the observed increments will cushion the system against high prices of goods due to inflation, unpaid bills, staff annual statutory increments and/or deductions. On the downside, it will expose the system to learning crises and low productivity in good research and innovation.

-The writer is a senior research scientist at APHRC

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