President William Ruto’s first budget for Kenya does not prioritize education. The Finance Bill 2023 does not make clear what Kenya is trying to achieve – strong basic education, technical and vocational skills, or innovation.
This is despite the importance of deepening technological capability and education reforms outlined in official policy to drive economic growth. It also comes against the backdrop of a political campaign promise to “bridge the current teacher shortage gap of 116,000 within two financial years”.
The allocation for education in the 2023/24 budget is KSh597.2 billion (US$4.59 billion), compared to US$4.19 billion in the previous year, a 10% increase. This is more than the combined allocation of US$3.52 billion for health, agriculture, security and the Executive Office of the President.
The four main areas of education spending are: basic education (primary and secondary); technical and vocational training; higher education and research; and Teachers Service Commission (National Employer of Teachers). Among these, basic education has got maximum funds.
But it appears that the spending won’t be directed towards anything new. As always, the government will subsidize basic education, provide bursaries and loans to students in tertiary institutions, and pay teachers in public institutions. The budgetary allocation means that there will be no new initiatives in the next financial year.
As a researcher with more than 20 years’ experience in the education sector, I think failure to allocate more funding to priority initiatives – such as capacity-based education and junior secondary schools – will hinder the sector’s resilience ( post-COVID-19 school closures), inhibits improvements in learning outcomes and delays Kenya’s capacity for innovation.
teacher budget
The Teacher Service Commission is set to receive 54% of the education budget in 2023/24 (down from 55% in the previous financial year).
The allocation – mainly to pay salaries – is set to rise by around 8%. The annual inflation rate is 8%.
But the number of teachers will increase by about 3,700. Between 2021 and 2022, the number of primary school teachers is expected to decline by about 0.4%, while the number of secondary school teachers will increase by 4%. Therefore, the increase in the budget will not make any significant difference to the salaries of teachers.
Read more: Kenya’s school reform is entering a new phase in 2023 — but the country is not ready
Increasing the number of teachers will also not improve the student-teacher ratio (number of students for each teacher). In areas such as North Eastern Kenya, there is a ratio of 70 pupils to one teacher. This does not meet the growing number of student enrolments: 245,000 per year.
While the policy intent is to increase the number of teachers in support of the quality of education, the Finance Bill 2023 cannot afford this. If the government were to hire an additional 20,000 teachers for primary and secondary schools to replace teachers who retired or resigned, their salaries would account for 60% of the education budget.
Higher Education and Research
University enrollment increased marginally by 0.16% to 563,000 from 562,100 last year.
In the 2023/24 budget, 20% of the education budget has been allocated to public universities and research, the same as last year. University allocations include both staff costs and direct program costs. The National Research Fund and the National Science, Technology and Innovation Commission draw from this budget.
The university education budget has increased by about 7%, mainly due to changes in staff salaries, increased student higher education debt and to deal with pending bills. This refers to a “business as usual” approach to university education.
The budget for research and development (Ksh847 million or US$6.52 million) has decreased by about 20% from the previous financial year, meaning the government’s lower priority for research and development.
This tarnishes hopes of fostering a research and innovation-driven economy. There is no country in the world that has ever achieved its social and economic goals without heavy investment in research and development.
The research and development funding gap will be met by NGOs and external partners who, in the absence of strong research co-design mechanisms, will pursue their own research agenda and not domestic research priorities defined by ministries.
Mauritius’s spending on research and development is 0.37% of GDP while Kenya’s is 0.01% of GDP.
basic education
There are 18.2 million children and youth in education and training institutions in Kenya. Of these, 14.2 million are in primary and secondary schools, and 2.9 million are in early childhood education.
The non-salary allocation for basic education is 22% of the education budget, the same proportion as last year. Basic education budget increased by 17% in 2023/24.
This is partly explained by the inclusion of curriculum reforms in this budget. The reforms emphasized the acquisition of competencies, and also changed the structure of the education system where learners now spend two years in pre-primary, six in primary, six in secondary schools and three in tertiary institutions.
Budgetary allocations do not reflect needs arising from COVID-19 school closures, such as addressing declines in learning, and providing resources for foundational literacy and numeracy.
Technical and Vocational Education and Training
Kenya is expected to have 580,500 youth in technical and vocational education and training in 2022, representing an 11.6% increase from 520,200 in 2021.
The sector is important as unemployment among youth in the age group of 15 to 24 years is around 13.4%. The budget for the sector has increased by about 10% as compared to the previous financial year. It gets a very small but growing proportion (around 5%) of the education budget.
At this rate, technical institutions will outpace university budgets in the future, a well thought out policy. Currently, enrollment in technical institutions in Kenya matches enrollment in universities.
But the Finance Bill 2023 could have done more. Like its predecessors, it has failed to provide in-the-workplace training, a move that would make skills more relevant to employers.
what lies ahead
The Finance Bill 2023 gives an indication of where education money is going and it is clear that the silent budget policy was largely to maintain the status quo.
On the positive side, wage increases will buttress the system against inflation, unpaid bills, annual statutory wage increases for employees and higher prices of goods due to deductions.
On the downside, it would expose the system to a learning crisis and lower productivity in good research and innovation.
Source: theconversation.com
