The government and her key partners have embarked on fact finding mission to evaluate the impact of the Kenya Primary Education Equity in Learning (KPEEL) program in sampled schools across the country.
The technical team led by senior officials from the Directorate of Projects Coordination and Delivery in the Ministry of Education are on a ten days field visits to review the status of the four year Program launched in 2022.
KPEEL Project National Coordinator Martha Ekirapa said the exercise which was under the fourth implementation support mission is expected to cover at least 13 counties between 20th to 29th March.
She said the technical teams comprising officials from multinational organization including the World Bank, UNHCR, and other stakeholders under the KPEEL are expected to submit their findings for discussions at the Kenya Institute of the Kenya institute of Curriculum Development at the end of the mission.
World Bank senior education specialist and team leader KPEEL Ruth Charo and the Director in charge of Directorate of Projects coordination and delivery Elijah Mungai last Thursday jetted into Lodwar town to kick off the countrywide exercise in Turkana County.
The team visited schools in the Kakuma refugee camps where Department of Refugees services in collaboration with the UNHCR, Jesuit Refugee Services, and other partners put up new schools for the assimilated refugee community who were permanently resettled in the country.
Some of the counties enlisted for the review included Turkana, Samburu, Bungoma, Siaya, Kisii, Bomet, Narok, Kisumu, Kakamega,Uasin Gishu, Nakuru Mombasa and Kwale where the teams will assess sample schools and collate the impact of the KPEEL program on the learning environment.
Notable outcome realized during the mission was the positive impact the school feeding and scholarship component of the program had on learners within refugee communities at the UNHCR Kakumu camps after it emerged that the initiative had drastically improved the previously worrying retention and transition rates of girls.
The four year multibillion project IDA credit of USD 160 Million and a USD 40 million grant from the refugee window was rolled out in 2022 for a four year implementation in the government was to contribute Kshs 1 Billion to the kitty.
He however cautioned school administrators that the disbursement of the Ksh 480, 000 grants under the 22022-2026 KPEEL Program will be pegged on the Performance for Results indicators whereby subsequent continuity in funding will be subject to the achievement of specific results, as measured by the seven Disbursement Linked Indicators (DLIs).
The program running concurrently with the government’s NESSP II initiative was tailored to thaw out inequities in access to quality basic education with deliberate focus on the girl child including those within and around the refugee camps.
The Program which intends to reduce disparities in learning outcomes, improve the retention of girls in upper primary education, and strengthen systems for equitable education outcomes is set to benefit at least six million learners in primary schools including about 221,529 children in refugee hosting counties.
However, the program encompasses component of infrastructure development, school meals, environment, governance and accountability to ensure that desired results areas including improved learning outcomes were realized.
By Victor Obure
