After tablets hitch, will Kenyan government deliver?

A primary school teacher helps a pupil at Butere Primary School to learn using a tablet. PHOTO | NMG 

In Summary

• Free Primary Education programme introduced in 2003 is yet to overcome the challenges associated with increasing enrolment each year unmatched by facilities and teaching staff.

By The EastAfrican
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Starting January, day secondary school will be free in Kenya.

The government has set aside Ksh5 billion ($50 million) to increase infrastructure in secondary schools to accommodate the expected rise in enrolment. The government projects that all the 993,718 KCPE candidates will join Form One, compared with last year’s 790,680.

This is even as Free Primary Education programme introduced in 2003 is yet to overcome the challenges associated with increasing enrolment each year unmatched by facilities and teaching staff.

The subsidised secondary education that is being upgraded is yet to overcome the challenges of delayed remittances by the government. Education experts say that it will be difficult to have all primary school pupils transit to secondary school.

“The 100 per cent transition is a misnomer,” said University of Nairobi lecturer George Gathigi. “Nowhere in the world has that been achieved. Strictly speaking, you will always have attrition.”

The Education Ministry has released the guidelines of the increased capitation fund for boarding, day and special needs secondary schools, a subsidy that is meant to increase the transition rate and double the current education budget to more than Ksh60 billion ($600 million).

READ: Day, special schools win big in Kenya subsidy programme

But students in boarding schools still have to pay Ksh53,554 ($536), and special needs schools students Ksh10,790 ($108) to meet running expenses.

Education stakeholders have welcomed the move by the government to promote education, but caution that it will be a tough task. Dr John Mugo of Uwezo, an education think tank, said students are still waiting for the government to deliver laptops.

The latest statistics show that 700,000 Standard One pupils, out of 1.2 million, have received tablets under the Digital Literacy Programme.

“Digital learning is a good idea, especially in areas, as it is easier to package and load information. But the implementation will take time, and the human resource component needs strengthening,” said Dr Gathigi.

“In some areas, the feat is artificial, as schools are struggling with basic facilities. It will be difficult to move to digital learning with such challenges.”

The government targets to issue 980,848 tablets to 21,729 schools countrywide. So far, 18,069 primary schools have received the gadgets.