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 to 21 st July, 2006 Prof. George Godia Education Secretary Ministry of Education, Kenya
Dec 24, 2015
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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.)
2222
• 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
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• 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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