The government has allocated Sh131.4bn for free education to be disbursed in Sh18.77bn monthly installments to cater for operational costs in schools, meals, boarding, examination and tuition fees, deputy minister of State in the President’s Office responsible for Regional Administration, Local Government, Civil Service and Good Governance, Suleiman Jafo told the parliament in Dodoma yesterday.
The amount, according to the deputy minister includes Sh20,000 and Sh70,000 annual school fee for a day and boarding secondary school students respectively, Sh1,500 for a daily meal for a primary and secondary school child and Sh35,000 for other miscellaneous needs in school.
Jafo was responding to Special Seats MP, Tunza Malapo’s (Chademe) question who had wanted the government to breakdown on the capitation grant going to schools amid skeptism over the 2014 government’s policy on capitation grants that, according to him, left a lot to be desired.
“How will the government specifically disburse the capitation grant to provide free education?” asked the rebellious lawmaker.
He said the complaints were rife among educators that 2014 education policy was failure that brought a barrage of problems in schools due to its poor implementation by the government, giving a cause for concern over whether the new free education policy would be successful.
He said the policy had obliged the government into paying annual school fees worth Sh10,000 and Sh25,000 for a primary and secondary school student respectively, but it could hardly afford the dues.
But the deputy minister countered, saying the government had self-censored enough to correct the mistakes and face the challenges under the new leadership.
“It is the government decision that starting January this year, all the enrolled and the continuing pupils for primary and secondary schools should not pay any fees,” he said.
SOURCE: THE GUARDIAN
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