The Ministry of Education has drafted the Basic Education Bill, 2024, for legislation that will make County Commissioners chairpersons of the County Education Boards (CEBs).
This will be a departure from the Basic Education Act, 2013, which is set to be repealed, that provides that the Cabinet Secretary appoints an educationist of at least five years standing, and based in the county.
In a press statement sent to newsrooms, the Cabinet Secretary for Education Ezekiel Machogu said the Bill would however, retain the County Director of Education or their representative as the Secretary to the County Education Board as in the current Basic Education Law.
The proposed changes were unveiled during the stakeholders’ forum on the Draft Sessional Paper and Bills to implement the recommendations of the Working Party at the Kenya Institute of Special Education.
Machogu who presided over the occasion said the changes followed recommendations by the Presidential Working Party on Education Reforms (PWPER), which was es
tablished to address the various challenges that had been observed across all levels of Kenya’s education system.
In attendance were the Principal Secretaries for the State Departments of Basic Education, Technical Vocational and Technical Training and University Education and Research Dr. Belio Kipsang, Dr. Esther Muoria and Dr. Beatrice Inyangala, respectively.
The CS assured the stakeholders that the government would restore the Sh22, 244 capitations for the Free Days Secondary Education programme.
‘The reduced capitation to Sh17,000 was due to the restrictive fiscal space. The restoration of the Sh22, 244 will help secondary schools to operate,’ he noted.
The changes in the Universities Bill, 2024 seek to bar Universities from offering diploma programmes.
Machogu said the Universities should restrict themselves to offering graduate and postgraduate programmes, and leave diploma and other certificate courses to middle-level colleges.
Among the public documents the Ministry of Education presented to s
takeholders for discussion and comments included The Sessional Paper on a Policy Framework for Education Reforms in Kenya, 2024.
‘The Sessional paper will anchor all the recommendations in the Report and provide the vehicle through which the Report will be presented to Parliament for adoption,’ said the CS.
The bills were The Technical and Vocational Education and Training Bill, 2024, The Kenya National Qualifications Framework (Amendment) Bill 2024, Tertiary Education Placement and Funding Bill, Kenya Literature Bureau (Amendment) Bill, 2024 and Kenya National Examinations Council (Amendment) Bill, 2024.
Others were the Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development (Amendment) Bill, 2024, the Basic Education Bill, 2024, the Education Appeals Tribunal Bill, 2024, the Basic Education Scholarships and Bursaries Bill, 2024, the Science Technology and Innovation (Amendment) Bill, 2024 and the Universities Bill, 2024.
The Stakeholders were drawn from teachers’ unions, faith-based organizations, Vice-Chancellors of
public universities, members of civil society, senior education officials and all the Semi-Autonomous organizations in the education sector.
Source: Kenya News Agency
WINDHOEK: The Ministry of Education, Arts, and Culture (MoEAC) has allocated N.dollars 40 000 per region towards the operations of the national arts directorate to implement programmes aimed at arts education under the 2023/24 financial year.
Responding to Nampa’s questions recently, the ministry’s Executive Director, Sanet Steenkamp, said a total of N.dollars 66.4 million (N.dollars 66 409 000) was budgeted for the national arts directorate, of which a combined N.dollars 570 000 was allocated for all regions to implement programmes for arts education.
‘Close to two thirds of the budget allocation to the directorate covers staff benefits and salaries, as well as other operational costs, leaving very little left to implement our programmes. The national arts budget represents about 0.00041 per cent of the ministerial budget,’ she said.
Steenkamp explained that salaries and benefits make up 59 per cent of the total budget standing at N.dollars 39 092 000, while subsidies to institutions total N.dollars 22 78
0 000 representing 34 per cent share of the budget, noting the head office including the College of the Arts (COTA) is allocated N.dollars 3 967 000, which includes costs of daily subsistence allowance, utilities, maintains and repairs.
She noted that the arts directorate faces great challenge of funding and as a result does not have enough human resources like necessary specialised experts and researchers, noting that currently the directorate is short-staffed with a total of 12 staff members at the head of office, while the majority (72 employees) are employed at COTA.
Steenkamp further noted that as per the annual plan of 2023/24, the directorate has prioritised reviewing existing legal frameworks including National Arts Fund Act No 1 of 2005, the National Art Gallery of Namibia Act No 14 of 2000, as well as the establishment of a legal framework for COTA.
‘We also plan to improve the operations and service delivery at COTA and carry out research on the cultural and creative sector, as well as formulate
a creative industries strategy,’ she added.
Steenkamp highlighted that subsidised institutions include National Arts Gallery of Namibia with N.dollars 8 348 000; National Arts Council of Namibia, which received N.dollars 5 500 000 and National Theatre of Namibia with N.dollars 8 100 000.
Source: The Namibia Press Agency
