To properly finance education, we must pay taxes, according to CS Machogu.
Kenyans must pay taxes, according to Education CS Ezekiel Machogu, in order for the government to adequately and efficiently fund education.
According to Machogu, delays in the National Treasury’s payment of monies to schools are the reason behind the delays in capitation payments. All of the funding for education comes from taxes paid by Kenyan citizens.
Speaking at the end of the 47th Kenya Secondary School Heads Association conference, he stated that the government’s need to balance a number of issues, such as paying salaries and the public debt, is the primary cause of the delays.
“This money does not originate from President William Ruto’s or Machogu’s pockets,” the speaker declared.
Willie Kuria, the chair of Kessha, pleaded with Machogu to give the remaining Sh10,000 per student for this year’s capitation.
The principals were informed on Wednesday by Basic Education PS Belio Kipsang that schools will henceforth get the entire Sh22,244 capitation per student.
Kuria stated that schools had been receiving Sh17,000 for a long time, but the amount was reduced to Sh12,000 due to withdrawals for the infrastructure accounts, and then Sh10,460 due to additional deductions for centralized procurements.
“We were receiving Sh10,600 in 2008, when capitation began. That implies that, taking inflation into account, we are currently receiving less than we did in 2008.
“This explains the significant financial difficulties schools have been facing and the reason so many of these schools have been sued,” he stated.
About 300,000 pupils have not received any capitation at all, according to the chair of Kessha.
He explained that because capitation was based on the number of applicants who left Form One the previous year—which was lower than the number of pupils who joined this year—a large portion of the current Form One students did not receive capitation.
“There are more than a million Form Ones. About 700,000 applicants dropped out of the race. Thus, between 300,000 and 400,000 Form One students have received no capitation at all, the speaker stated.
Kuria claimed that the Education Ministry’s textbooks are flawed and superficial, and that teachers have refused to utilize them.
This implies that schools use their finances to purchase textbooks.
In addition, no reference books are provided. Thus, we proceed to purchase both the reference books and the textbooks,” he declared.
The assignment was handed to one or two publishers, who are then overworked but had to deliver, so they perform a lousy job. This is why, according to him, the textbooks are shallow and full of faults.
“And we request better-quality replacements when kids who get these books misplace them. Thus, it is incorrect to state that we are always relieved when they are gone since it allows us to obtain better copies from the bookstores, Kuria stated.
According to the Kessha, they have already got Sh12,000 this year and anticipate receiving the remaining Sh10,000.
Given the current rate of inflation, a day school should get Sh27,000 per student year to operate.
Yet, we do not advocate for receiving the Sh27,000 as such. We will plan ourselves if we receive the Sh22,244, Kuria stated.
According to Machogu, the government is currently constructing extra classrooms in preparation for the arrival of the first Grade 9 students the next year.
According to him, the government has already allocated Sh3.5 billion to build 3,500 new classrooms.
“We have also allocated an additional Sh3.9 billion to the 290 constituencies, who will be able to construct a comparable amount. We anticipate securing additional funding in the upcoming fiscal year to construct a total of 16,000 classrooms by the end of 2024,” he stated.
To properly finance education, we must pay taxes, according to CS Machogu.
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