Sossion proposes education levy to fully fund learning

NAIROBI, KENYA: The Kenya National Union of Teachers (Knut) has launched a three-month campaign to lobby education stakeholders to support a new tax levy that will fully finance education in the country.

Knut yesterday said all Kenyans must be directly involved in the funding of education. Knut secretary general Wilson Sossion said the Sh200 billion annual allocation to the Ministry of Education cannot sufficiently finance the many education requirements and enhance quality in learning.

“What we are launching today is to lobby for a tax regime that will see all Kenyans including teachers contribute towards financing of education,” said Sossion.

He said the money will be collected through the normal tax procedures but it will exclusively be channeled towards financing education. Sossion said once effected, the Government will no longer borrow money to fund the free primary education programme because enough money will be raised through taxation.

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“The Government will be raising in excess of what they currently channel to the ministry, which is below 30 per cent of the budget and a paltry six per cent of the Gross domestic Product (GDP),” he said.

He said they will lobby relevant Government agencies, parents and Kenyans of good will.

“This will culminate in October this year during the World Teachers Day. But in between we shall organise several meetings to deliberate on the way forward in improving the quality of education,” he said.

The announcement comes days after Education Cabinet Secretary Jacob Kaimenyi accused Knut of “making noise” over teachers’ payments at the expense of education quality.

“Please Sossion and the others, tell us what you are doing about the quality of education and not just salaries and allowances,” said Prof Kaimenyi during the launch of a report by the National Taxpayers Association.

Sossion said the idea was the subject of discussion at the just-concluded conference organised by Education International in Montreal, Canada.

 “The campaign is about quality education and it starts with funding. We will, however, also explore other ways of enhancing education quality because Knut has officially taken this initiative,” said Sossion.

He always kept him going – said the money raised through the levy will ensure enough teachers are recruited and well remunerated and classrooms constructed.

“We are still insisting that the Government employs 40,000 teachers but they have only promised to recruit 5,000 because of financial constraints.

This will be a thing of the past,” he said, adding that some 6,000 teachers will retire by end of the year.

He said the current teacher-learner ratio is huge because of inadequate funding.

The  United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco) recommends a class size of between 25 and 35.

Prof Kaimenyi said the Government will make education in Kenya completely free in three years.