Budget for Promotion and Recruiting 20000 JSS Interns Approved
Members of Parliament (MPs) have approved the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) budget for promoting and recruiting 20,000 Junior Secondary School (JSS) interns.
The education sector has been allocated Kes. 597 billion in budget proposals that will be part of the 2023 Budget Policy Statement (BPS) that will be tabled in the National Assembly tomorrow.
These are additional funds that are intended to fund junior secondary schools, recruit and promote more teachers, improve infrastructure in schools and fund higher education.
However, there is still a huge deficit close to Kes. 200 billion across the 13 programmes.
This information is contained in the “Report on the Consideration of the 2023 Budget Policy Statement for the Ministry of Education and the Teachers Service Commission (TSC)”.
The report was prepared by the Parliamentary Education Committee after proposals by the Ministry’s three departments and TSC.
The Commission has been allocated Kes. 322,733 billion with Kes. 3.8 Million intended to recruit 20,000 new teachers in support of the JSS.
JSS was launched this January but has been facing a myriad of problems including a serious shortage of teachers.
Kes. 11.1 billion will be allocated to 20,000 internship vacancies and 10,000 teachers who will be hired on permanent and pensionable terms.
Hon Julius Melly (Tinderet, UDA) chairs the Committee that has recommended the Budget and Appropriations Committee the raising the allocation for TSC to allow for Kes. 2.2 billion to be used in the promotion of teachers.
Teachers’ unions have been calling for the promotion of thousands of teachers who have overstayed in the same job groups despite being eligible for the promotion.
However, the number set to be promoted this year is way below what teachers’ unions have been fighting for.
To train teachers and tutors on the Competency-Based Curriculum (CBC), TSC has been allocated, Kes. 1.3 billion.
Despite the government’s pledge to cover the costs of the Teacher Professional Development (TPD) programme, there was no allocation done on the same. Teachers could be forced to cover the financial burden of the TPD.
On the 27th and 28th of February, officials from the Ministry of Education and the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) appeared before the Parliamentary Committee on Education to deliberate on the BPS.
Basic Education has received the highest increase in allocation (17%) and 130 billion has been proposed for the department. An increase from the previous Kes. 110.7 billion.
The increase is attributed to the new capitation for the JSS with Kes. 15,042 being allocated per learner and an expansion of infrastructure in primary schools domiciling the JSS.
However, the financial problems facing institutions of higher learning are not likely to go away as allocation to the department is having a deficit of more than 51.7 billion shillings.
Public universities and constituent colleges had areas of bills totalling Kes. 56 billion by the end of June in the previous year. The deficit is now at Kes. 61.1 billion.
The institutions now have a budget ceiling of Kes. 90.9 billion. The report is recommending bringing to an end the placement of government-sponsored students in private universities saying that public universities have enough infrastructure to accommodate them.
The Presidential Working Party on Education (PWPER) is set to recommend how to address the issues facing the sector and other issues at the end of the month.
The Higher Education Loans Board (HELB) requested Kes. 25 billion for student loans in universities and tertiary colleges but has only received an allocation of just Kes. 17 billion.
The proposed the Open University of Kenya has been allocated Kes. 1.8 billion with a technical committee headed by Prof Ezra Maritim working on the establishment of the University that is expected to begin admitting students this September.
The State Department for Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET) has been allocated Kes. 1 billion that it will use to build technical training institutes in the remaining 52 constituencies.
Every constituency has been allocated Kes. 20 million to begin construction. The project is expected to be completed after three years.
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