Why primary schools will become center of power
Primary schools will emerge as the new academic powerhouses if proposal to merge nursery, primary and the newly established junior school to form one big unit, is adopted.
In new suggestions by the education reforms team, the single unit encompassing all the three levels will be known as Comprehensive School headed by a principal.
The principal will be assisted by teachers who will head nursery, primary and junior schools and they will be referred to deputy principals.
If adopted, the move will lead to expansion of current primary schools in terms of population of learners, teachers, infrastructure and resource allocation.
Presently, according to the Education Ministry data, the institutions accommodated at least 10 million learners from Class One to Class eight.
The changes will see the number of classes grow from previous eight to 11; that is two for pre-primary, six classes for primary schools and three classes for junior school.
Subsequently, this will mean a swell in number of learners. And in addition to overseeing class one to eight as was the case under 8-4-4, the new head (principal) will oversee operations across the three levels of school. This also means the principal will coordinate and oversee millions of shillings pumped into the institutions.
The Presidential Working Party on Education Reforms has recommended that nursery children also get capitation from the government.
In addition to this, the team has also proposed a review of capitation per child.
The team proposes that the principal be a signatory to all school bank accounts from pre-primary, primary and junior school.
In the comprehensive schools, funds will be pooled from capitationcapitation from government, a minimum essential package, parental contribution, and sponsors.
The government fundingfunding to the institutions will be channeled in two levels; one is capitation which will be given depending on number of learners in a school, which the team proposes be revised upwards.
The other is proposal to provide a flat-rate fund — varying on the level of school — that will be referred to as a minimum essential package.
Under the revised capitation, each nursery school pupil will get 1,170 yearly from the government.
Each primary school child will receive 2,238 shillings yearly while those in junior secondary schools will receive 15,043 yearly. Each learner in senior secondary schools will be given 22,527 shillings per year.
Special needs children will get an additional funding of 604 shillings for nursery schools, 3,624 for primary school and 10,000 shillings for both junior and senior secondary.
The comprehensive school in public institutions will be mainly funded by the government resources but also will have other support avenues to channel resources.
Then, there is the minimum essential package. This will cater for school expenses that arise regardless of the population in the institutions; and will be essential in cushioning institutions with limited population.
The essential package will be distributed as follows; 70,200 for pre-primary, 536,880 for primary education, 1,632,120 for junior school, 1,890,000 for senior school and 2,060,940 for special needs education.
This means, a comprehensive school will get a cumulative 2,239,200 as the minimum essential package. Why primary schools will become center of power.
The minimum essential package will cover financial obligations in schools and will be the same for all institutions regardless of the population in schools.
To ensure prudence in the use of the massive allocation the team wants the ministry of education to employ accountants and accounting clerks.
The comprehensive schools, if all goes as planned will see a rapid increase in the number of teachers in the institutions. Why primary schools will become center of power.
