Education Principal Secretary Belio Kipsang has assured secondary school Head Teachers that government will put proper measures in place before the official rolling-out of free secondary education next year.
Addressing the participants of the 42nd Kenya Secondary School Heads Association (KESSHA) annual conference in Mombasa on Monday, Kipsang said treasury has allocated Sh7 billion for improving infrastructure in public schools. Kipsang said the funds will be used for building more schools, laboratories and sanitary facilities in all public schools to enable smooth implementation of Free Secondary Education (FSE). He said the government would consult with key stakeholders on how to introduce a new education system that will not mess the current education sector.
Over 8,000 school heads and a further 3,000 exhibitors have converged in Mombasa for the conference.President Uhuru Kenyatta is expected to officially open the conference on 20th June 2017. Kenyatta promised free secondary school education in public schools from January 2018.
KESSHA on Sunday welcomed both Jubilee and NASA’s pledges to make secondary school education in public schools free starting from next year. Association Chairman, Indimuli Kah however said they must ensure policy issues are addressed before rolling-out the program.
He pointed to the reality that most schools lack the necessary infrastructure and teachers to cope with a sharp rise in admissions. “We must ensure our facilities are expanded. Secondly, we must ensure we have enough teachers. As it is the teacher-student ratio is unsatisfactory.” Both Jubilee and NASA say they are determined to ensure that all children in public primary schools transition into public secondary school without having to drop out due to financial problems.
This article was first published on Capital News.
