Treasury CS Ukur Yattani on Thursday, June 11, announced that the government will waive examination fees for all KCPE and KCSE candidates
While reading the Budget 2020/21 at Parliament Buildings, the CS proposed a full exam fee waiver for all the 2020 candidates.
"We shall allocate Ksh4 Billion for the examination fee waiver for KCSE and KCPE candidates," he stated.
The Treasury CS further allocated Ksh59.4 Billion for free day secondary education, Ksh2 Billion for recruitment of 5,000 teachers, Ksh1.8 Billion for the school feeding program, Ksh6.3 Billion for equipping of TVETs and Ksh16.8 Billion to the Higher Education Loans Board.
President Uhuru Kenyatta during an address on June 6, stated that the Ministry of Education would announce the new school calendar by the middle of August.
The head of state disclosed that gradual reopening of schools would commence in September 2020. The government will also look at how learning can resume while implementing Covid-19 safety regulations.
On his part, Education CS George Magoha stated that the Ministry's goal was to ensure that every child regardless of their background would have the same facilities when the schools reopen.
Magoha further advised parents to play the role of the teacher in their children's lives for the time being adding that the situation could take a long time to resolve.
During his Address on Thursday, Treasury CS observed that the budget presented factored in many issues especially with the Covid-19 pandemic.
"The budget I have presented today involved making hard decisions in the quest to move our country forward. Faced with limited resources, the balancing has not been easy," he added.
The Education Ministry was allocated the lion share of the budget with Ksh497.7 billion.
