The Ministry of Education has unveiled a Ksh1.6 billion kitty to help speed up the process of reopening schools.
Public schools in 30 counties are set to benefit from the the fund provided by the World Bank.
Speaking to the press, Education CAS Zachary Kinuthia noted that the money would be used to construct classrooms, ablution blocks as well as laboratories.
The project, dubbed Secondary Education Quality Improvement Programme (SEQUIP), is a six-year World Bank funding to disadvantaged schools across the country expected to cost Ksh8.2 billion.
The funds have been unveiled at an opportune time in which the ministry is grappling with ways to ensure school safety for the January 2021 school resumption.
According to the World Bank, the project is also aimed at improving the quality of teaching in targeted areas. It will also address the critical supply-side issues that constrain teaching and learning.
It consists of improving school infrastructure and improving retention in upper primary school and transition to secondary school of poor and vulnerable students.
The project is expected to reach 7,852 public primary schools and 2,172 secondary schools across the country over the six-year period.
As part of school reopening quest, the ministry is reportedly in the process of acquiring 257,000 desks to assist in the implementation of the social distancing requirement by the Ministry of Health.
This comes slightly more than a week since Education CS George Magoha announced Ksh7 billion concessional loans to aid private schools on the brink of collapse.
The loan was availed at an interest rate of between 2.5% and 3.5%. It is expected to help the institutions install ICT systems for digital learning.
“We understand the situation that they are in and that’s why the government has provided a Ksh7 billion shillings in concessional loan for private schools,” stated Magoha at the time.
At around the same time, the CS had announced that public schools had received funding to aid in the running of the institutions during the second and third terms.
Treasury deposited Ksh3,725 per learner for the operations of the institutions with some expected to pay salaries to staff employed by the boards of management.
