Experts push for a single fund to make learning free

Roots Academy students at Uhuru Park Bus terminus waiting to board a matatu as schools open, April 27, 2026. [Kanyiri Wahito, Standard]

Education stakeholders are pushing for the consolidation of school bursaries to create a national education fund to guarantee free and compulsory basic education for all children.

They assert that harmonising fragmented education bursary schemes into a single, centralised fund would improve efficiency, reduce corruption in the education sector and ensure equitable access to children while aiding in the government’s ambitious 100 per cent transition.

Dr. Kilemi Mwiria, former Assistant Minister for Education and Presidential Advisor on Education and Dr. Davies Okombo, an educationist, said the National Treasury retained some of the monies approved for the education for development and buying of textbooks, a move they termed illegal, while noting that the move would be corrected by centralising the education fund.

“By harmonising various bursaries, loans, and school fees, education becomes a consistent, national priority rather than a fragmented, political tool,” Dr Okombo noted.

Some of the existing education bursaries include the National Government Constituencies Development Fund (NG-CDF), National Government Affirmative Action Fund (NGAAF), and other county and ward-based schemes.

According to Dr Okombo, a unified system would also prevent multiple bursaries from going to the same students.

The educationist maintained that the National Treasury's move to retain part of the education allocation was illegal, arguing that once the National Assembly approved the education fund, it was not the National Treasury’s decision to withhold part of the budget.

“The Treasury in this context is actually acting contrary to the law because once the parliament has passed the budget then it is not in the domain of the treasury to sit down again and decide how much money they should allocate for education. It is crucial that they release all the money that has been budgeted for,” he stressed.

Dr. Davies Okombo an educationist, he has called for a harmonisation of education bursaries to make education free to all learners  [Ndungu Gachane, Standard]

He urged Parliament to summon the Treasury and Education officials to push them to adhere to the law while recommending tough penalties against schools that charge admission fees.

“Parliament must play its role and ensure that children in Kenya can access equitable and free education. At the same time, the Basic Education Act outlaws those admission fees and yet schools, especially in the urban centers, charge as much as Sh10,000 for a child to be admitted into grade one,” he added.

Dr Mwiria said it was high time the government addressed corruption in the education sector as a move to streamline free education.

He cited exaggerated procurements, ghost teachers, and textbook-buying scandals as some of the issues bedeviling the education sector, while criticising MPs for not supporting projects initiated by their predecessors, a move he said affected planning for school infrastructure.

“If we are just going to be building schools without checking whether they are efficient, or through a professional process of school mapping and identifying the demand, there will be a major problem because there will never be enough teachers,” noted Mwiria.