Article 43(1)(f) of the Constitution as read together with Article 53(1)(b) entitles ever…

Motion text

THAT, aware that Article 43(1)(f) of the Constitution as read together with Article 53(1)(b) entitles every child to free quality and compulsory basic education; cognizant of the fact that, access to funding for education immensely contributes to the realization of universal access to basic education in the country; appreciating that, section 48 of the National Government Constituency Development Fund (NG-CDF) Act, 2015 establishes education bursary schemes for every constituency towards access to basic education; noting that section 48A of the NG-CDF Act further allows for affirmative action mechanisms of allocating additional funds to cater for education bursary schemes and other teaching and learning related activities; concerned that, the NG- CDF Act caps allocation to bursary schemes under the Fund at not more than 35% of total Constituency allocation in a financial year, thereby limiting the number of cases that may be supported to access basic education; further concerned that, the NG-CDF Board has only been approving bursary support for secondary and tertiary education and not primary schools and the recently created Junior Secondary Schools; cognizant of the fact that, the failing to extend bursaries to primary and Junior Secondary Schools on the assumption that the two levels of education are ‘free’ is a misnomer since the Government’s capitation per pupil is inadequate to cater for the mandatory materials required for Competency Based Curriculum (CBC), thereby affecting pupils whose parents are unable to meet the attendant costs; deeply concerned that, continued exclusion of allocation of bursary to Primary and Junior Secondary Schools violates the provisions of Article 27 of the Constitution and slows down attainment of universal basic education in Kenya; now therefore, this House resolves that: (i) the education bursary schemes under section 48 of the National Government Constituency Development Fund (NG-CDF) Act, 2015 be extended to support learners in Primary and Junior Secondary Schools to cater for Competency Based Curriculum requirements; (ii) pursuant to section 48A of National Government Constituency Development Fund Act, 2015, the NG-CDF Board in each Constituency approves additional allocation to the education bursary scheme in order to Support for teaching and learning related activities associated with the CBC education including School Feeding Programmes; and (iii) the Government revises the capitation per student in primary schools from the current Kshs. 1,420 per year to at least Kshs. 7,760, being the minimum optimal capitation factoring the new CBC education system and the prevailing high cost of living.