CS says Sh19 billion capitation funds disbursed to schools

Education Cabinet Secretary Julius Ogamba has told the Senate that Sh19 billion has already been disbursed to public schools for capitation.

The CS said this was out of the Sh30 billion allocated for primary and secondary schools in the financial years 2023, 2024 and 2025.

Mr Ogamba said for the Free Junior Day School in the financial year 2022/2023, Sh13,385,331,614 was allocated. At the same time, Sh13,385,252,144 was disbursed while in the financial year 2023/2024, Sh31 billion was budgeted for while Sh30,469,542,115 was disbursed while in the financial year 2024/2025 Sh30,660,000,000 was budgeted for while Sh6,109, 654, 633.94 has already been disbursed.

Ogamba noted that over the last five years, the funds provided to the Ministry of Education have fallen short of the approved rate, leading to under funding of schools forcing the ministry to divide the available amount with the number of learners.

Kakamega Senator Boni Khalwale had sought to know how much money the Ministry of Education had set aside for capitation grants for learners in the academic years 2023 and 2024 and the cash disbursed.

“In the financial year 2022/2023 Sh11,811,734,102 was budgeted for while Sh10,922,126,767 was disbursed. In the financial year 2023/2024 Sh9,476,000, 460 was budgeted for while Sh8,824, 840,432 was disbursed. In the financial year 2024/2025 Sh9,120,509,159 was budgeted for while Sh1,532, 829, 077 has already been disbursed,” said Ogamba.

The CS told senators that the ministry requests for funds from the Exchequer at least three weeks before schools open, and once the funds are received, they are disbursed to schools immediately, but sometimes there are delays.

“Schools are required to upload details of all their learners and bank accounts on the National Educational Management Information System (NEMIS). In some cases, there are delays in receiving capitation because schools submit erroneous information, causing banks to reject the funds. School heads are routinely oriented on what is required of them to ensure compliance,” said Ogamba.

Mr Khalwale asked Ogamba to confirm that 36,505 teachers were promoted following the recent countrywide interviews, and, if so, provide a breakdown of their distribution per county.

Ogamba responded that the promotion of teachers is a legal mandate of the Teachers Service Commission. He  said in the financial year 2023/2024, the commission advertised 36,505 vacancies for teacher promotions, however, 36,504 teachers were promoted but one vacancy for principal position in special needs had not been filled.

Kiambu Senator Karungo Thangwa asked the CS to provide statistics on the amount of funding allocated for bursaries at the county and national levels over the past three years.

Ogamba said the ministry does not provide any bursaries for basic education and that it only administers the Elimu Scholarship, which supports selected students through secondary school with 52,000 students having benefitted since 2020.

He said more than Sh12 billion has been disbursed under the programme while pointing out that bursaries are provided through the framework of the National Government Constituency Development Fund and county governments.

“The government is spending heavily on education, and at 27 per cent of the total expenditure this is well beyond the UNESCO recommended rate of 15-20 per cent of annual public expenditure,” the CS said.

He said one of the recommendations by the Working Presedential Party was to create a coordination framework for scholarships and bursaries across all the levels of education.