Subsidised secondary education runs into hurdle

Fresh questions are emerging on the sustainability of the subsidised secondary education plan as the Government ponders over slashing the subsidy next month in the wake of financing gaps arising from soaring student admission to public schools.

A host of new challenges are piling to haunt the plan, with educationists saying this could hamper the Government’s ability to administer tough measures needed to save the struggling plan.

Education minister Prof Sam Ongeri says the ministry might be forced to reduce the Sh10, 265 annual subsidy per student by at least Sh200 to factor in a financing shortfall of Sh1.5 billion.

Prof Ongeri reckons the deficit has been occasioned by an unprecedented growth in enrolment this year, which has meant that the Sh7 billion set aside for the programme will not be enough to run schools for the remaining six months. The situation, said Prof Ongeri, could however be arrested if Parliament votes for extra cash for the plan in a Supplementary Budget he hopes to table in March.

“Without extra funds, our options are limited in as much as we want to reduce the cost of education on parents, ” said Prof Ongeri, adding that enrolment to secondary schools had hit the 1.5 million mark with new entrants this month.

Educationists said mismanagement of schools, falling quality of education and widening inequalities in accessing secondary education opportunities look set to derail the two-year old plan that has so far gobbled up Sh15 billion.

This could further fuel increased wastage of skills and resources arising from the inability of existing institutions to absorb all qualified students leaving Class Eight. They argued the current quota system used in selection of candidates to secondary schools favours children from private institutions associated with rich families.

“We cannot pretend that everything is well with the secondary education yet thousands of students continue to miss places in institutions, ” said Mr David Koech, the chairman of Parliamentary Committee on Education.

“Classes are overflowing, the perennial teacher shortage continues to bite harder and mismanagement of funds by school heads and ministry officials is rife,” said Mr Koech, who is also the Mosop MP. This year, 241,121 students, or 33 per cent of the 727, 054 who sat the Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE), will miss Form One places and will be forced to join youth polytechnics to advance their education.

Skills shortage

Analysts are worried that despite the billions of shillings being pumped into the education sector to ease the fees burden for parents, the country is not doing enough to prepare the landing ground for the school leavers.

“There is massive wastage in terms of the number of students who are missing out places in high schools,” said Mrs Mary Okello, the proprietor of Makini Schools. The transition challenges come at a time when Kenya is grappling with a skills shortage, which could hinder the smooth implementation of Vision 2030 goals or force the Government to engage retirees longer.

This laxity in boosting transition, educationists say, has the potential of watering down the Free Primary Education (FPE) which takes up at least Sh8 billion annually and has so far cost taxpayers over Sh50 billion since inception in 2003.

While the impact of the free learning plan might not be reflective on the actual examination results, educationists are raising the red flag on the increasingly worsening admission crisis in secondary schools, made worse by poor infrastructure.

“There is so much mismanagement in public schools and therefore the need to put headteachers on checks such as performance contracts, ” said Cleophas Tirop, the chairman of the Kenya Secondary School Heads Association. “It does not cost anything to do good placement of the best brains among teachers to run schools, ” said Mr Tirop who said a recent decision by the Government to transfer at least 5,000 teachers countrywide to check on management might not bear fruits.