1 COPING WITH RAPID EXPANSION WITHIN THE FRAMEWORK OF SFA POLICY – KENYA’S EXPERIENCE 7 th Meeting of the Working Group on EFA at UNESCO, PARIS – 19 th.

11

COPING WITH RAPID EXPANSION WITHIN THE FRAMEWORK OF SFA

POLICY – KENYA’S EXPERIENCE

7th Meeting of the Working Group on EFA at UNESCO, PARIS – 19th to 21st July,

2006

Prof. George Godia

Education SecretaryMinistry of Education, Kenya

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IntroductionIntroduction

• Kenya Government declared Free Primary

Education in January 2003. This was

necessitated by declining enrolments

following the introduction of cost sharing

policy in 1989.

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Introduction (cont.)Introduction (cont.)

• Cost sharing was a Government strategy

to cope with the Structural Adjustment

Programmes (SAPs) introduced by the

Brettonwoods Institutions.

• This hindered many children especially

those from the economically marginalized

groups from accessing primary education.

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Objectives of FPEObjectives of FPE

The prime objectives of FPE include:

• To reverse the declining enrolments at

primary level.

• To enhance access, retention, quality

and relevance at primary education level.

• To improve participation, progression

and completion rates at primary level.

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Objectives of FPE (cont.)Objectives of FPE (cont.)

• To implement sector policy goals including

universally accepted conventions on the

provision of education especially EFA and

MDGs to which Kenya is a signatory.

• To reduce the burden of the cost

previously borne by parents in the

provision of primary education.

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• To streamline and rationalize the utilization

of educational resources.

• To implement the provisions of the

Children's rights domesticated in

Children’s Act 2001.

• To improve on learning achievements.

Objectives of FPE (cont.)Objectives of FPE (cont.)

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Effects of Abolition of FeesEffects of Abolition of Fees

• Following the abolition of fees and levies

in January 2003, there was an upsurge in

enrolment where an additional one million

children were immediately enrolled in

public primary schools.

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Effects of Abolition of Fees (cont.)Effects of Abolition of Fees (cont.)

• The number of pupils in public primary

schools increased from 5.9 million in

December 2002 to 6.9 million in January

2003.

• By December 2004, the number had

grown to 7.12 million children as illustrated

in Table 1 and Figure 1.

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Effects of Abolition of Fees (cont.)Effects of Abolition of Fees (cont.)

• Currently the enrolment stands at 7.6

million.

• The abolition is also benefiting children in

NFS and about 300,000 are already on

board.

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Effects of Abolition of Fees (Cont.)Effects of Abolition of Fees (Cont.)

• The Gross Enrolment Rate (GER)

increased from 88.2 percent in 2002 to

102.8 percent in 2003.

• The GER rose further to 104.8 in 2004.

• The GER for boys and girls increased

considerably from 88.9 and 87.5 percent in

2002 to 108.0 and 101.6 percent in 2004

respectively.

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Table 1: Impact of FPE on Primary School Enrolment Table 1: Impact of FPE on Primary School Enrolment (Figures in ‘000)(Figures in ‘000)

Province 2002 2003 2004

Boys Girls Boys Girls Boys Girls

Coast 199.4 165.3 251.2 208.1 285.5 241.2

Central 398.7 399.7 429.4 420.1 430.7 420.7

Eastern 572.1 574.4 652.6 636.1 685.8 663.1

Nairobi 72.6 726.7 96.4 96.5 101.0 102.0

Rift Valley 756.6 720.3 889.0 834.9 920.2 853.7

Western 430.4 450.1 527.5 518.9 554.7 537.5

Nyanza 514.5 499.6 654.6 626.8 651.2 607.7

North Eastern

33.2 150.3 43.2 21.2 46.2 21.2

Total 2,977.5 2,897.3 3,543.8 3,362.6 3,675.2 3,447.2

Grand Total

5,874.8 6,906.4 7,122.4

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60

70

80

90

100

110

120

1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004

Year

Perc

enta

ge

Boys

Girls

Total

Fig.1: Primary School Gross Enrolment Rates, Fig.1: Primary School Gross Enrolment Rates, 1999-20041999-2004

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Effects of Abolition of Fees (cont.)Effects of Abolition of Fees (cont.)

• Overstretched physical facilities including

water and sanitation.

• Increased class sizes particularly in the

urban slums areas. This led to high PTRs

whereby in some cases it exceeded 100:1.

• Initial decline in quality of education due to

reduced teacher pupil contact.

• Increased workload for teachers.

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Coping Strategies and MechanismsCoping Strategies and Mechanisms

1. Constitution of FPE Taskforce

In response to the initial implementation

challenges posed by the upsurge, MoE

constituted a task force comprising of

Ministry officials, Development Partners,

Private Sector and Civil Society

Organizations.

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The main objective of the task force was:

• To develop appropriate strategies for

implementing FPE

• To identify concrete guidelines for smooth

and effective implementation of FPE.

Constitution of FPE Taskforce (cont.)Constitution of FPE Taskforce (cont.)

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2. Resource Mobilization2. Resource Mobilization

Immediately after the initiation of FPE, the

Government and other stakeholders

embarked on a rapid resource mobilization

exercise to cope with the upsurge.

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Some of the initial sources of the FPE funds

were:

• Kshs.519 million (US$6.8 million) from the

Government in emergency grants for use in

public primary schools to address immediate

school needs. Out of this, each school

received a grant of KShs.28,871 (US$380) to

cater for basic needs such as chalk, duster,

exercise books, etc;

Resource Mobilization (cont.)Resource Mobilization (cont.)

2020

• KShs.1.6 billion (US$21.1 million) grant was

received from DFID;

• KShs.192 million (US$2.5 million) from

UNICEF to purchase teaching and learning

materials.

Resource Mobilization (cont.)Resource Mobilization (cont.)

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• A further KShs.2.4 billion (US$31.6 million)

was disbursed from Treasury under the

supplementary estimates for the financial

year 2002/03;

• World Bank – Kshs.3.75 billion (US$50

million) grant. This was meant to last two

years to cater for instructional materials

and capacity building.

Resource Mobilization (cont.)Resource Mobilization (cont.)

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• DFID/SIDA/CIDA- Kshs.809 million

(US$10.6 million)

• WFP – Kshs.1.056 billion (US$13.9

million)

• OPEC – Kshs.753 million (US$9.9 million)

Resource Mobilization (cont.)Resource Mobilization (cont.)

2323

2424

2525

• Other notable contributors to the success of

the programme included Oxfam (GB), Action

Aid, a number of NGOs, CBOs, CSOs and

FBOs

• Universal Primary Education Fund Account

was opened through which all well wishers

would channel their support to FPE.

Resource Mobilization (cont.)Resource Mobilization (cont.)

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3. Data Collection and Information3. Data Collection and Information

• Data on school enrollment was collected

for funding purposes.

• The Ministry also developed circulars on

guidelines to teachers and headteachers

on FPE implementation.

• Curriculum materials were developed and

teachers advised on modalities of coping

with the expanded enrollment.

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4. Teacher Development - Capacity Building4. Teacher Development - Capacity Building

• Extensive orientation/training was provided to

teachers through national in-service programme

under SbTD.

• School cluster approach was introduced in

selected ASAL Districts to help teachers on child-

centered-interactive and participatory methods.

• Training of school management committee on

financial management.

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5. Teacher Balancing and Deployment5. Teacher Balancing and Deployment

• In coping with the increased workload for

teachers and to address the existing

shortage of teachers in certain areas, the

Government embarked on a countrywide

staff balancing exercise by deploying

teachers from over-staffed

regions/districts/schools to those that were

understaffed.

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6. Monitoring and Audit Strategies6. Monitoring and Audit Strategies

• The Ministry established a monitoring

strategy from headquarters through provinces

to the district. In this set up, District

Education Officers were required to monitor

in every primary school’s disbursed funds,

enrolment status, textbook-pupil ratio and

curriculum implementation.

• Established auditing mechanisms to ensure

accountability.

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7. Other Coping Strategies7. Other Coping Strategies

• The Government reached out to

development partners and other

stakeholders for support towards the

expansion of school physical facilities.

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• Partnered with Ministries of Home Affairs,

Local Government and civil society in

bringing the orphans and out-of-school

children back to school.

• The Government intensified and sustained

sensitization and awareness raising

campaigns on the roles of various

stakeholders in the implementation of

FPE.

Other StrategiesOther Strategies

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• Quality monitoring and standards

assessment visits to all schools were

intensified to ensure that education quality

was not diluted.

• Integrated the FPE strategy with the process

of developing a long term development plan

using Sector Wide Approaches (SWAp).

Other Strategies (cont.)Other Strategies (cont.)

3333

Lessons LearntLessons Learnt

• Sustained political commitment and

goodwill remain critical to the success of

the programme.

• Partnership and collaboration at every

level of the programme implementation is

essential to its sustainability.

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Lessons Learnt (cont.)Lessons Learnt (cont.)

• Establishment of an elaborate institutional

framework is a prerequisite for successful

programme implementation.

• Entrenchment of the programme into the

national budget right at the inception is

vitally important.

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Lessons Learnt (cont.)Lessons Learnt (cont.)

• Despite cost being one of the single most important factors inhibiting access, it is acknowledged that there are other informal barriers that hinder access which include:

Social cultural factors.Perception of the term Free Education.Feeding Programmes

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Lessons Learnt (cont.)Lessons Learnt (cont.)

• Removal of bureaucracy in the disbursement of FPE resources facilitates the effective disbursement of funds directly to the schools, thus, it removes the role of the middlemen and hence minimizes leakages.

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Way Forward Way Forward • Countries like Kenya which have adopted the SFAI

policy should be considered for financial support

from the international community. This will help

bridge the gap created by the diversion of national

resources towards supporting the “bold initiative”.

• Currently 23.8 percent of the Kenyan budget is

allocated to education. Out of a total Government

budget of KShs. 415.9 billion (US$ 5.8 billion)

Education takes KShs. 99 billion (US$ 1.4 billion).

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ENDEND

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