Gvt releases school capitation money in bits, sh 19 billion in first phase

The government will release all the Sh48 billion capital grants to schools in the next two weeks, Education Cabinet Secretary Julius Ogamba has assured.

Ogamba said the government released Sh19 billion to schools on Wednesday and will distribute another Sh15 billion today.

“In the next two weeks, Sh48 billion will have reached the schools,” said.

Speaking in Mombasa yesterday, the CS warned head teachers against sending children home because of the delayed release of capitation funds.

He was at Umoja Primary School in Changamwe to witness the registration of parents to the Social Health Authority (SHA), inspect school infrastructure, and transition from Grade 8 to 9.

Ogamba said his ministry was also collecting data on schoolchildren with no birth certificates to share with the Ministry of Interior to issue them and enable the children to register with SHA.

He said his ministry has partnered with the ministries of Health and Interior to ensure that parents register with SHA and cover the children who are beneficiaries.

“We are using an entire government approach to ensure  SHA registration is smooth,” he said.

On infrastructure, the CS said the construction of 15,000 laboratories across the country for junior secondary school classes will start this year.

He said over 14,500 classrooms for Grade 9 out of the 16,000 required were complete, and the rest will be ready by the end of this month.

The CS said the ministry has also distributed books to schools to ensure each learner has enough learning materials, even as the government pushed for 100 percent transition.