The teachers’ employer could lose critical Quality Assurance and Standards (QAS) functions to the mother ministry if the new proposals by the education reform team are adopted.

And staff presently performing these functions at the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) would be transferred to the Ministry of Education in the new proposals.

In the draft report, the Presidential Working Party on Education Reforms (PWPER) suggests the need to harmonise the quality assurance functions in the basic education sector by ensuring that the ministry has exclusive legal authority over the mandate.

“Quality Assurance and Standards functions should be transferred from the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) to the Ministry of Education,” reads the report.

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This means that TSC powers might be clipped and a commensurate budget retained at the ministry in radical proposals made by the taskforce.

“The quality assurance and standards function at TSC should be transferred to the Ministry of Education. This harmonisation of QAS functions should be anchored in law,” reads the draft report.

Report further says that the directorate for quality assurance and standards be given powers in law to enable it to enforce laws, regulations, policies and deadlines of ministry.

“The powers shall include but not limited to the power to order the immediate closure of institutions that contravenes set regulations and to establish the system of rewards and sanctions,” reads the report.

The proposal is seen as a major plug to the gaps witnessed in previous years where ministry officials oversaw death of learners and damage of institutions property as there was no clarity on jurisdiction.

Report finds that lack of adequate human resources, worsened by decentralised quality assurance staff to other directorates.

It says this has continued to hamper the level of quality assurance and standards systems in schools.

Early Childhood Development and Education, it says, lacks quality assurance mechanisms.

Also, report says that there is poor implementation of policies and regulations governing quality assurance and standards in learning institutions with education standards and quality assurance commission not in existence.

It also emerges that inadequate number of Quality Assurance and Standards officers, conflict and duplication of duties of the officers is evident in the institutions.

This has affected the capacity of staff to develop and maintain inclusive education standards needs in learning institutions and also hampered service delivery in terms of education contents, learning environment and school management.

Principals of Junior and Senior Secondary Schools have a reason to smile after the Ministry of Education and National Treasury reached a deal to disburse capitation money by next week.

State Department of Basic Education Principal Secretary Belio Kipsang assured the public-school principals across the country that the money was available and would be wired to their respective bank accounts without further delays.

The PS made the remarks during the launch of the Sh60 million Uasin Gishu ECDE milk programme at the Central primary school playground in Eldoret town which is set to benefit 40,000 learners in the region.

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The event hosted by Uasin Gishu Governor Jonathan Bii was graced by former West Pokot governor John Lonyangapuo—the chairperson of the North Rift Waterworks development agency.

Kipsang was reacting to complaints by the principals over the government’s delay to release capitation funds noting that the move was threatening to ground the running of the institutions.

The principals complained that they have not received the free day secondary education capitation funds for the second term and that the situation was compounded by the failure of some parents to pay school fees.

According to Kenya Secondary Schools Heads Association chairperson Indimuli Kahi, the principals observed that schools were in debt and surviving on the mercy of suppliers.

“If the suppliers get tired of waiting for payment and refuse to supply, schools will be grounded,” Kahi said.

According to Kahi, schools opened last week for the second term which he observed is the longest in the school calendar.

During the term, students in Form Four undertake mock examinations as they prepare for KCSE exams at the end of the year.

Kipsang revealed that the Ministry of Education had distributed 18 million books to grade seven learners to ensure smooth learning in all public schools in the country.

The Ministry of Education yesterday gave a breakdown of how it would spend its Sh135 billion budget. However, the ministry maintains that it needs an additional Sh43 billion to cater for critical services during the next financial year. Speaking before the National Assembly Education Committee, the Principal Secretary in the ministry, Belio Kipsang said the Sh135 billion it has been allocated in the 2023-2024 financial year comprises Sh115.773 billion for recurrent and another Sh19.707 billion for development.

The PS outlined that the Sh43b deficit was needed to bridge the deficit in key programmes like Free Day Secondary Education (FDSE) with at least one million learners at the risk of being left out if the money is not availed. Kipsang said the current enrolment of 3,938,109 at the rate of Sh22,244 gives a total requirement of Sh87.6 billion against the proposed allocation of Sh65.386 billion for FDSE which can only cater for 2,939,489 learners.

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“Some 998,620 learners are not covered under the FDSE programme. We need an additional Sh22.2 billion to fully cater for these learners,” explained the PS. Similarly, there are 20,066 Special Needs Education (SNE) learners in public secondary schools who require a top up capitation at the rate of Sh35,730 giving a requirement of Sh716.95 million against the provision of Sh200 million, Kipsang stated.

“Provision of these funds will facilitate realisation of Article 53 of the Constitution on free and compulsory basic education,” he insisted. “We are grateful for the continued support the State Department has received. However, the areas we have identified as being under-funded are critical to the achievement of our mandate,” the PS said.

For Junior Secondary School (JSS), Kipsang said there are currently about 1.1 million learners in Grade Seven who will be transiting to Grade Eight within the 2023/24 Financial Year. He said the capitation requirement at the rate of Sh15,042 is Sh16.166 billion. Additionally, there are 15,686 SNE learners in Grade Seven who require top up capitation at the rate of Sh35,730, resulting in a requirement of Sh565.9 million. In January 2024, some 1.3 million learners are expected to join Grade Seven.

The capitation requirement for Terms I and II will be Sh15.776 billion besides the 16,313 SNE learners requiring a top up capitation requirement of Sh582.87 million, bringing the total requirement to Sh31.942 billion. On exams, the PS said the number of candidates sitting 2023 Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) examination is 1,280,782 at the rate of Sh800 per candidate. This gives a requirement of at least Sh1 billion against a provision of Sh942.1 million.

For those sitting the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) examination, the number stands at 893,103 at the rate of Sh5,400, which is a requirement of Sh4 billion against a provision of Sh3 billion. There is also a provision of Sh1 billion to cater for Grade Six learners’ assessment. He said the department purposes to strengthen delivery of Sciences and Mathematics in the implementation of junior secondary curriculum.

“The department is facilitating construction of Integrated Learning Resource Centres (ILRCs) and also an extra washroom in each school to reduce pressure on existing facilities,” the PS said.

Construction of an ILRC and washroom, Kipsang stated, costs approximately Sh1.8 million and Sh500,000 respectively. In the 2023/2024 budget, Sh3.379 billion has been allocated to cater for this cost and priority will be given to schools that are not close to public secondary schools. According to the PS, the Ministry requires an additional Sh42.043 billion and Sh1 billion under recurrent and development budgets respectively.

The PS, however, stated that there is a notable increase in the recurrent budget of Sh9.089 billion from the current financial year to the next budget. According to the PS, the main areas of increase are Sh5.887 billion for capitation to junior school learners, Sh964 million for FDSE capitation and another Sh300 million to cater for quality assurance and standards. Similarly, Sh173 million will go towards supporting co-curricular activities, Sh444 million under Personnel Emoluments for recruitment of Quality Assurance and Standards Officers and Sh470 million for supply of sanitary towels. The PS also said that under the development budget, the department allocation reduced by Sh4.071 billion.

“The main reduction was under the Secondary Education Quality Improvement Project of Sh8.912 billion, which is scheduled to end in the financial year 2023/24. However, the department received an additional Sh4.7 billion for implementation of Kenya Primary Education Equity in Learning Program,” the PS explained. The department has proposed Sh940 million for sanitary towels, with the PS saying the programme provides seven packets to girls in Class 6, 7 and 8. At least Sh399 million has been proposed for co-curricular activities to cover regional, county and sub-county levels.

The department said a proposed Sh335 million is to cover quality assurance and standard, which caters for the increased need for assessment as a result of CBC in pre-primary, primary, secondary and teacher training colleges. Kipsang said the basic education department will implement Bottom –Up Economic Transformation Agenda (BETA) through automation of education systems.

The State Department for Early Learning and Basic Education is on the spot over irregular disbursements of free education funds and subsidies respectively as well as Implementation of the School Feeding Programme. Auditor General Nancy Gathungu in a report for the 2021/22 financial year said there were various anomalies in the disbursement of funds and in the procurement of foodstuffs for  various schools.

With regards to Free Primary Education Funds she said that her office is not in a position to confirm the authenticity of the Sh9 billion that was disbursed to schools   while on the School Feeding Programme she noted that the money in question amounts to Sh1.2 billion Reads the report: “The transfers include an amount of Sh9,062,694,606 relating to funds disbursed for free primary schools during the year. However, analysis of the Free Primary Education data revealed various anomalies.” It adds: “The statement of receipts and payments reflects an amount of Sh30, 546,359,898 in respect of transfers to other Government Units.

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The expenditure includes an amount of Sh19, 971,035,325 in respect of transfers to National Government entities out of which an amount of Sh1,196,296,000 was spent on the purchase of various foodstuffs for the school feeding programme.”

Duplicate bank accounts On free primary education the anomalies noted include schools having duplicate bank accounts, Schools Sharing similar Teachers Service Commission (TSC) Registration Numbers, Schools either not having TSC Codes or having unknown codes. With regards to disbursements of the funds to Schools with duplicate bank accounts, the report notes that despite 38 schools sharing bank accounts they received disbursements totalling Sh1.2 million while 436 schools without TSC codes received a total disbursement of Sh14.7 million during the year under review.

Another 3,486 schools that were assigned a TSC code with different code formats from those provided by the State Department received disbursements amounting to Sh102.3 million while another 24,119 schools that were sharing TSC registration numbers received disbursements amounting to Sh737.7 million  during the year under review. Said Gathungu: “In the circumstances, the accuracy and authenticity of the disbursements of Sh9, 062,694,606 for free primary education funds for the year ended 30 June, 2022 could not be confirmed.”

On disbursement of Free Day Secondary School Education Subsidies, she noted that a review of the National Education Management Information System (NEMIS) system in relation to the capitation disbursements schedule to secondary schools revealed various anomalies. According to her the anomalies include disbursements of Sh6.3 million to day Secondary Schools that shared bank accounts, which continued to recur in subsequent disbursements without being detected and corrected.

In addition, she also noted that a review of the schools lists on capitation per quarter reports revealed six schools that operated one bank account for both operations and tuition funds received total payments of Sh40.9 million. “In the circumstances, the accuracy and authenticity of the subsidies totaling Sh47, 208,815 for free day secondary school education could not be confirmed,” added Gathungu.

With regards to procurement of School Feeding Supplies that included 107 000 bags of rice comprising of 47,000 bags – Ahero Sindano and 60,000 bags of Pishori rice, 25,749 bags of 90kg beans, 12,780 jerricans of 20 litres,  5,112 bales of 20kg salt and 194,421 bags of 25kg corn soya blend, Gathungu regretted that the State Department adopted a framework contract from Public Works and requested quotations from only one firm for supply of corn soya from a list of 28 suppliers, three firms for supply of salt and five firms for supply of vegetable oil.

This she noted is contrary to provisions of Section 114(1) of the Public Procurement and Asset Disposal Act, 2015 which provides that a procuring entity may enter into a framework through open tender if the procurement value is within the thresholds prescribed under regulation to this Act.

The ministry of education has taken over the management of early-grade reading in the education sector.

The program dubbed Tusome (let’s read) is funded by USAID and implemented by Research Triangle International.

The exit of the Tusome project’s financier USAID put it in the hands of the government.

Primary education Director Nereah Olik said the program had improved reading standards for students.

“Learners who broke into tears when asked to read have been able to become better readers,” Olik said.

She added that the program not only made the children happy but also made the teachers and parents happy.

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The program aimed at improving teacher capacity for effective delivery methods of classroom instruction.

Similarly, it would improve access to appropriate textbooks and supplementary materials in literacy.

Tusome was launched in 2014 to help learners in Grades 1, 2 and 3 to fluently read in English and Kiswahili.

Titled ‘Tusome external evaluation end-line report’ the study assessed the implementation of the ‘Tusome’ project in the lower primary public schools.

The report said teachers seemed comfortable using Tusome material in the classroom.

“However,they have faced significant challenges following the 40 per cent reduction on instructional hours allocated to English and Kiswahili under the Competency-based Curriculum,” the report reads.

However, the intervention of RTI saw the lessons returned to 5 per week.

Learners’ ability to read in English and Kiswahili has significantly dropped on account of the fewer hours.

Under the CBC, learners take three Kiswahili and English lessons each week.

In the 8-4-4 system, English and Kiswahili lessons were taught each day of the week.

Education Cabinet Secretary Ezekiel Machogu has warned school heads against “attempting” to introduce illegal levies in schools.

He said they must stick to the Ministry of Education-approved fee structures to ease the burden on parents who are reeling from the effects of hard economic times.

The CS said the government will “swiftly and firmly” respond to any reports of headteachers charging unapproved fees.

“Let no principal or headteacher dare,” Machogu told the Star, insisting that he will personally monitor such reports.

“President William Ruto has given clear instructions that teachers should not ask for additional charges from parents, we are affirming that we will follow the instructions to the latter.”

Machogu, who on Monday released the Form One Selection results, had insisted that the government will release Sh15,000 as capital for every Grade 7 pupil.

The government will spend Sh9.6 billion to finance Junior Secondary School learners to be in school this year in form of fees.

Each Form One learner will receive slightly more than Sh22,244 as capitation per academic year.

However, there have been concerns from parents that headteachers could take advantage of Grade 7 admissions to levy unapproved fees.

Machogu had said that no child should pay any fees over and above the capitation money, asking parents to only buy uniforms for their children.

The Grade 7 learners are expected to have different uniforms although they will be domiciled in primary schools.

“We have left that matter of determining the uniforms to the School Boards of Management,” Machogu said.

Junior Secondary School pupils are expected to report to school on February 30 while Form Ones have between February 6 and 13.

School heads have previously defied government directives outlawing additional fees charges, imposing more levies that have triggered an uproar.

“We have given firm instructions to the field officers to be alert and vigilant to ensure that no schools introduce unapproved fees and other charges,” Machogu said.

Secondary school students will no longer be allowed to initiate school transfers without involving the ministry.

The Ministry of Education has released a number of procedures to be followed by the interested students.

According to the new application form dubbed ‘transfer and admissions form’, only learners who use this procedure will be considered.

“No school shall admit a student without a letter of transfer signed by directors of education in the sub-county and county,” the letter reads.

This is different to the past years when students would change schools, without having to involve government stakeholders.

It is understood that this is meant to tame indiscipline learners from changing schools.

“All principals must give release letters to students seeking transfers to other schools stating very clearly the conduct of the student,” the letter reads.

The letter should be signed by the county director of education, sub-county director, director of secondary education and special programs.

“A principal who covers up a student’s conduct shall be held responsible for any subsequent problems,” the letter reads.

Each of these directors has a category of transfer letter to be signed, whether it’s inter-county, inter sub-county or inter-region.

For national school transfers, the director of secondary education and special programs in the ministry will sign the letter.

“Students seeking transfers from one county to another shall be authorized by CDE, for sub-county transfers, SCDE will authorise,” the letter reads.

The ministry has also directed that students send transfer requests for the coming year before October 30.

This means students should apply for transfers in the third term so that by first term they know their fate.

“No transfer shall be carried out in the middle of the year except those under special circumstances,” the letter reads.

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This directive also means no students shall be admitted to a new school in the middle of an ongoing school calendar.

“A school that may have a vacancy or vacancies to admit more students shall issue a transfer letter signed by the principal,” the letter reads.

The transfer letter will be sent to the former school to initiate the transfer process.

A sample of a transfer letter seen by the elimupedia team has seven slots to be filled by different people.

The first part has students’ details; outlining reasons for transfer, and the second one is to be signed by the receiving principal.

“The receiving principal states if they have a vacancy, if they accept or deny the application,” the letter reads.

The third part is to be filled by the principal of the school releasing the student.

They are expected to submit the learners’ performance, outstanding fees (if any), discipline and willingness to release the student.

From part four, the directors in the Ministry of Education now take over the transfer process.

“SCDE of receiving sub county approving or declining transfer, CDE of receiving county approving or declining application, while stating reasons,” the letter reads.

At the regional level, the RCE of the current county and receiving county will also approve or reject the transfer.

The final part of the application is to be completed by the director of secondary education, at the national level.

The Education Ministry, led by Cabinet secretary professor George Magoha is on the spot for denying the Auditor-General access to a student’s database, in a bid to facilitate scrutiny of Sh60 billion expenditure. This move has raised untold fears concerning the transparency in the use of free education funds.

The State auditor general confirmed impossibility to verify the expenditure of Sh59,541,584,343 since she was unable to access the student enrolment data in the National Education Management Information System (Nemis), caused by restrictions by the State Department of Early Learning and Basic Education.

According to the Auditor-General Nancy Gathungu, several anomalies were noted in the transfer of education subsidies to schools.

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She maintained that the ministry transferred free education subsidies to 9,024 secondary schools amounting to Sh36,739,481,231 yet the data on the number of students per school and county at any time of disbursement could not be verified.

“The reason for non-verification was due to inability to access the student enrollment data in the National Education Management Information System (Nemis) as a result of restrictions by the Management,” Gathungu told Parliament in a report.

The ministry declined to avail the data despite Gathungu’s  warning that failure to grant access to the Nemis system contravenes Section 9(e) (i) of the Public Audit Act, 2015.

According to the Act, the Auditor-General or an authorised officer shall have powers of unrestricted access to all books, records, returns, reports, electronic or otherwise and other documents of entities listed under Article 229(4) of the Constitution.

This implies that the Auditor-General, or an officer authorised should enjoy unrestricted access to any property or premises used or held by State organs or public entities covered by Article 229(4) of the Constitution and subject to audit under the Act.

“It was therefore not possible to validate the data used for disbursement of subsidies to schools,” she confirmed.

“In the circumstances, the accuracy and validity of subsidies to Public Corporations of Sh59,541,584,343 could not be confirmed.”

Ms Gathungu said the ministry disbursed a total of Sh57.01 billion as a subsidy for free day secondary school.

She said although the management of the schools receiving subsidy funds are required to upload an acknowledgement receipt in the Nemis system as evidence of the funds in the school’s bank account, none of the listed schools raised an acknowledgement receipt in the system.

“Further, the disbursement schedule included payments amounting to Sh137,084,111 made to 225 secondary schools whose bank account numbers format differed significantly from the format of bank accounts for banks supported by the national banking system,” she said.

The auditor said there were no confirmation receipts from the benefiting schools. “It was therefore not possible to confirm whether the schools’ bank account numbers were correctly captured and the concerned schools received the funds,” she said.

On the capitation, Ms Gathungu said the disbursement report provided for audit verification including Sh8.3 million that was disbursed to schools that had the same bank account numbers even though the names and sub-county of the schools were different indicating an error in the funds’ transmission.

The anomaly was not explained and there was no evidence of refunds provided to indicate the correction of the error, Ms Gathungu said.

She also flagged a disbursement of Sh638,435,316 to secondary schools in October 2020 that comprised transfers to 3,808 schools in respect of operation account and 3,810 schools in respect of tuition account.

“Although the management (ministry) explained the amounts were as a result of some schools that had not received their earlier capitation monies for reasons that they had not updated form one admissions data in the NEMIS system together with unexplained loss of data in the system, the basis of identification of the beneficiary schools was not supported by any documentation in form of claims from the benefiting schools or evidenced by any duly approved management report or exception report from the system to indicate that the benefiting schools had not received the earlier disbursement,” she said.

The auditor said a sample of the school included on the list receiving the disbursement had been included in the schools that had received their regular disbursement on time and therefore the payment was a duplication. Ms Gathungu said the ministry did not explain the anomaly.

In addition, Ms Gathungu said payments made to 31 schools were made to the bank account whose format did not conform to the national banking system of coding.

She also raised the red flag on an amount of Sh22,140,000 paid to 82 secondary schools in the Arid and Semi-Arid Land (ASAL) areas to support the needy students in the ASALs.

Ms Gathungu said no documentation was provided to support the basis of identification of the needy schools.

 The Government through the Ministry of Education has rolled out a programme to train youth with the necessary skills to help them commercialize their talents.

State Department for Post training and Skills Development (PTSD) Education Secretary Dr. Wanjiru Kariuki, said the programme targets 50 youth drawn from the 47 counties across the country to undergo training to become champions of talent management in their respective counties.

This, she added, will help bridge the gap in unemployment among the young people in the country through improved productivity as well as networking and information sharing between the youth and the talent industry.

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Speaking in Naivasha, Wanjiru added the Government is committed towards ensuring that the programme achieves its intended objectives with the participants expected to demonstrate the ability to identify and develop talents, entrepreneurial skills for talent management as well as gain skills on how to brand and market their talents.
Subsequently, Wanjiru called upon the youth to turn into job creators instead of being job seekers in what she termed as a change of perception about being employed, saying this will help create more jobs for the young people in the country who form 75 percent of the population.

The youths undergoing the training will also be imparted with skills on Intellectual Property Rights to protect themselves and their crafts from being exploited, determine appropriate resources for talent management as well as on how to apply collaboration, communication and creativity skills in talent management.

According to Wanjiru, the 2019 Kenya Youth Development Policy report indicated that the youth constitute a huge pool of untapped talent potential in sports and performing arts. She said this informed the decision to come up with the program in order to help the youth earn a living by nurturing their talents.

As part of Kenya’s Vision 2030 Agenda, sports and performing arts have been recognised as an important enabler of sustainable development hence talents need to be nurtured so that they can make an important contribution to economic growth, added Dr. Wanjiru. She said the youth in the current programme were drawn from previous “Kazi Mtaani” cohorts adding that the government will expand the scope in the next financial year to accommodate more young people including special interest groups such as those living with disabilities.

Dr. Meshack Opwora, the Director Technical Education (PTSD), said the trainees will have an opportunity to interact with mentors who have done exemplarily well in their respective fields in order to give them insights on how to gainfully utilize their talents.

The Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development (KICD) together with Ministry of Education(MOE) have announced a raft of changes in learning areas taught in Grade 1,2 and 3.

The changes affect language subjects under the Competency Based Curriculum(CBC) offered in lower primary.

Through a letter dated 5th April 2022,sent to all County Directors of Education,the KICD and MOE have approved the name Indigenous Language Activities to be used instead of Literacy Activities.

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Another change that has been made is on Curriculum Designs formally known as Syllabus.

The Ministry and KICD have made changes in the number of lessons for English Language,Kiswahili Language and Indigenous Language.

Below is the letter to that effect.

ALL COUNTY DIRECTORS OF EDUCATION

RE:REVISED CURRICULUM DESIGNS,PUPIL’S BOOKS AND TEACHERS GUIDE FOR GRADE 1.2 & 3 ENGLISH,KISWAHILI AND INDIGENOUS LANGUAGE ACTIVITIES

The Kenya Institute of Cumiculum Development(KICD)in collabaration with the Ministry of Education(MoE) has completed the review of the English Language. Kiswahill Language and Indigenous Activities Grade 1.2 & 3 based on the recommendations from the Report on the implementation of Languages in Grades 1,2& 3.

The Ministry of Education(MoE) approved the change of name from literacy Activities to Indigenous Language Activities.Additionally,the MoE approved the review of the cumiculum designs for English Language,Kiswahili Language and Indigenous Language activities for Grade 1, 2 &.3 in line with the revised time allocation as follows:English Language (5 lessons), Kiswahili Language (4 lessons) and Indigenous Language activities (2 lessons).

The purpose of this letter is to inform you on the change of name of literacy activities and lesson allocation for Grades 1, 2 &3 in English Language,Kiswahili Language and Indigenous Language activities as well as time allocaled to these learning areas.

All primary schools are therefore expected to start implementing the changes in term 1 that begins on 25th April.2022.

Ensure all the schools get this information on time.

DR.MARY GATURU,HSC FOR:PRINCIPAL SECRETARY

The changes are captured in the new revised Curriculum Designs which have been released for use.