Education Cabinet Secretary Ezekiel Machogu has reiterated the government’s commitment to upscaling the level of education in the country.
The CS observed that the government has allocated Sh658 billion towards education for the 2024–2025 financial year compared to the Sh628 billion that was allocated for the 2023–2024 financial year.
Speaking at Karega Secondary School, Kigumo, during the school’s prize-giving day, Machogu noted that the government has already released over Sh36 billion in capitation to all the primary schools, secondary schools, and Junior Secondary schools in the country to enable them to run effectively.
The primary schools have received Sh2.7 billion, the secondary schools Sh18.8 billion, and the JSS last week received Sh14 billion in capitation.
He said the Government was investing heavily in education, and the additional funds would be able to cover all the activities in the schools, including paying all the teachers.
“Through these funds, the JSS teachers working as interns will also be absorbed into permanent and pensionable employment,” he said.
“The government will also be able to employ an additional 20,000 teachers to bridge the gap that is currently being experienced in schools across the country,” he added.
Machogu underscored the need to have the Finance Bill passed, as it was only then that the government, through the additional funds, would be able to cover the new funding models introduced in the universities.
At the same time, the area Member of Parliament, Joseph Munyoro, lauded the students from the mixed-day school for continuously performing excellently throughout the years.
He called upon the students to keep shining in their studies as they scale universities and colleges.
“More than 100 students from this school will join various public universities in September; taking such a number to university at once is no mean feat, and we are proud of this school,” noted the legislator.
“Our resolve is to have as many students transition to campuses because it is through education that we expand our thinking as well as grab the opportunities presented to us globally,” he added.
He also called on the government, through the Ministry of Education, to ensure the area got additional JSS teachers for the delivery of quality education.
“We got 207 JSS teachers, yet we require 370 teachers, and we are urging the government to fill this gap in the next financial year, 2024-2025,” he said.
By Florence Kinyua
