President Uhuru Kenyatta yesterday challenged Members of the National Assembly to approve education budget.
In his address to the nation, Uhuru said his government has prioritized development of school infrastructure for the fiscal year 2019/20 to address the pressure on facilities in schools.
Similarly, he called upon legislators to give preferential treatment to the allocation of Constituency Development Funds (CDF) towards school infrastructure.
His remarks come against the backdrop of heightened strain on a majority of secondary schools.
The strain has been occasioned by government’s move to implement 100 per cent transition policy from primary to secondary schools.
“I call on all Members of Parliament to act in solidarity with our children and approve the Education Budget as per our request,” said the President.
A fortnight ago, Kenya Secondary School Heads Association (Kessha)expressed concern over the status of schools saying there is need for speedy intervention.
Public secondary school heads lamented the huge resource deficit they have had to deal with over what they termed as the Ministry of Education’s inadequate and nonprocedural disbursement of funds to run the institutions.
Kessha proposed that the government allows parents to support infrastructural development by contributing a moderate fee.
They also wanted the ministry to undertake targeted audit to establish the infrastructural need for schools and allocate funds commensurate to needs of each.
Last year, the government adopted the policy on universal access to basic education.