2024 Term 3 Disbursement: FPE sh1.6B, JSS sh6.1B, FDSE sh14.1B

The National Treasury has disbursed Sh29.7 billion as capitation for basic learning and university education ahead of the reopening of schools on August 26.

Communication from the ministry indicates that the funds are part of Sh40 billion released for various state departments, including basic Education and Higher Education and Research.

The State Department of Basic Education has been allocated Sh21.8 billion out of which Shh1.6 billion has been allocated for Free Primary Education for the Third Term.

Free Day Secondary Education has been allocated Sh14.1 billion, while Junior Secondary Education has been given Sh6.1 billion also for Third Term.

The State Department for Higher Education and Research has been allocated a total of Sh7.9 billion out of which Sh5.1 billion has gone to the Education Loans Board for students.

The other Sh2.8 billion has been disbursed to the Universities Fund Board.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Education on Tuesday clarified to Parliament that the application deadline for funding by university students under the new funding model has been extended to December 31, 2024.

It said the previous deadline of August 15, 2024, was strategically aimed at accelerating applications, going by past experiences where students tend to relax when they are given lengthy application periods.

“The deadline was subtly meant to exert positive pressure on applicants to act swiftly to facilitate the processing of data and determination of household contributions in a timely manner,” the State Department for Higher Education and Research said in its communication to the House.

“However, given the challenges some students face in applying for financial support, the deadline for student applications for funding is currently set at December 31, 2024; this has been communicated on the website,” it added.

The ministry said as of August 15, some 104,575 students had successfully applied for funding.

It said the number increased to 125,893 students by August 16, including 8,530 KCSE 2022 students.

According to the ministry, the total number of applicants now stands at 127,623 of which 119,093 are of the KCSE 2023 cohort.

The number is nearly 5000 more than the number of students who had been anticipated to apply for funding.

“It had been projected that 122,634 out of the 153,275 students placed in various public and private universities would apply for funding,” the ministry said.

The ministry further clarified that the new university funding model which awards scholarships and loans to learners on their level of need applies only to the 2022 and 2023 KCSE cohorts, that is, Year One and Year Two students.

It said students from the KCSE 2021 cohort and earlier cohorts – that is Year Three to Year Six students – will continue to be funded under the Differentiated Unit Cost (DUC) model.

“Through this model, universities are funded through a capitation grant determined by the number of students enrolled in each programme, the cost of specific programmes and the available government resources,” the ministry said.