Timely release of funds will help school principals to plan well

Financial graphs and charts analysis. [Getty Images]

Education is at the heart of the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, and essential for the success of all Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Hence, the national government has zero option but to fully and promptly finance the sector. The State must recognise the significance of education and refrain from lumping this important sector with other fields when it comes to allocation in the budget.

Inadequate and delayed financing of school budgets is a touchy issue that has been discussed at various levels over and over, but with no tangible policies to guide disbursement of funds being reached - the reason the challenge of financing Free Primary Education (FPE) and Free Day Secondary Education (FDSE) recurs. Schools are in dire situations because the funds they were allocated by the government are either insufficient to sustain their operations or these institutions were never allocated funds at all.

In spite of earlier promises that the government would address the perennial FPE and FDSE funding delays, the Ministry of Education has again fallen short of its promise, releasing only Sh24 billion of the expected Sh28 billion. This means schools that were to receive Sh9,000 per student got Sh4, 150.35 or thereabout.

It is instructive that the Sh24 billion was used to service accumulated debts from previous terms and other outstanding bills incurred by school managements, leaving principals and their schools impoverished, and in a state of destitution. Heads of schools are driven further into a state of despair, misery and hopelessness when the Ministry of Education insists that no child should be sent home for lack of schools fees, and at the same time the National Treasury fails to release funds.

Caged principals are left with the challenging task of finding a way to keep students in school despite the escalating prices of school necessities like food, stationary, cooking oil, gas/firewood, transport, electricity bills, laboratory chemicals/apparatus, replenishing of libraries and purchasing other teaching/learning tools. Board of management teachers and the non-teaching staff are also remunerated from school budget.

The use of NEMIS to provide details of students, which among other things determines how much each school should get, is a good gesture and a system that should be appreciated. NEMIS remains a fundamental aspect of school management and the entire learning process. However, the concept should be streamlined further, made more efficient, straightforward and should not involve parents, learners and school managers.

School heads face myriad challenges while using NEMIS - for instance, lack of birth certificates, certificates bearing incorrect serial numbers, lack of proper NHIF records, lack of accurate parents/guardians' contacts/identifications, insufficient details on Special Needs learners, and lack of prerequisite information and data on nationality and gender. Some schools lack electricity and internet connections, which pose greater challenges to meaningful communication.

Therefore, it is imperative for the NEMIS process to be made simpler, easier, affordable and acceptable to all parties. If the government fails to address this core area, the system could easily cripple learning in public schools, leading to poor educational standards, and the blame passed over to powerless and dependent Principles.

In light of this, it is of essence that we introspect on the following important areas; how schools can survive under the current socio-economic situation, whether the ministry is serious with FPE and FDSE including implementation 100 per cent transition policy, if our actions are putting at risk the future of our nation, and the level of commitment we have in the implementation of competency-based curriculum.

The Kenya National Union of Teachers wishes to categorically state that the Sh628.6 billion allocated to the education sector for among other functions, recruitment of an additional 20,000 teachers (Sh4.8 billion); increase capitation grants for Junior Secondary School (Sh25.5 billion), Free Primary Education (Sh12.5 billion) and Free Day Secondary Education (Sh65.4 billion) are a drop in the ocean considering the escalating cost of living, and the pricey cost of teaching tools and learning materials. The government should consider increasing these allocations.

It is imperative to note that to make free education a reality, the government should provide teaching and learning materials without asking or forcing parents/guardians to supplement. These forced supplements from parents are what automatically hike the cost of education for common mwananchi. The government should increase the FDSE capitation per student from Sh22, 244 to Sh35,000, considering the skyrocketing cost of living and running of educational institutions to cushion the glaring prices' gap and ensure there is no further delay in disbursement of these funds to schools.

The National Treasury should improve budgetary allocation to Teachers Service Commission for the commission to hire enough teachers to address the biting teacher shortage, and rightly meet the UNESCO student/teacher recommended ratio of 40:1. As it stands today, there is still an acute shortage of teachers in all our public primary and secondary schools.