Magoha to launch education finance commitment plan
Education Cabinet Secretary, Prof George Magoha will tomorrow launch Kenya’s commitment statement to education financing and outline its role as co- host of the Global Partnership for Education (GPE) 2021-2025.
According to Ministry of Education, the event will bring together senior Government officials, playing key roles in the GPE fourth Replenishment campaign.
“The GPE is a shared commitment to ending the world’s learning crisis – GPE is the world’s only partnership and fund focused exclusively on bringing quality education to children in lower-income countries.
Established in 2002, the GPE has spent nearly 20 years helping partner countries globally to build strong and resilient education systems,” said the Ministry, in a statement.
Tomorrow’s meeting will cover Kenya’s ambitions in its role as co-host of the Global Partnership for Education 2021-2025 and importance of education funding and protecting domestic education budgets in addressing the current education crisis.
Commitment to education
Magoha will also be expected to announce Kenya’s commitment on education financing as well as launch Eliud Kipchoge’s campaign video endorsing the GPE campaign and calling on world leaders to fund education.
Among those expected to attend the roundtable meeting are Deputy Chief of Staff, Executive Office of the President, Ruth Kagia, Principal Secretaries Dr Julius Jwan (Education), Dr Julius Muia (National Treasury), Amb Macharia Kamau (Foreign Affairs) and Esther Koimett (ICT, Innovation and Youth Affairs).
Others include Deputy British High Commissioner and Development Director to Kenya, Julius Court and Teachers Service Commission (TSC) Secretary Dr Nancy Macharia.
“The campaign aims to raise at least US$ 5 billion to fund education in GPE beneficiary countries over the next five years.
The campaign has been made even more critical, and urgent, by the destructive impact that the Covid-19 pandemic has had on teaching and learning for children across the world,” said the Ministry.
The campaign will culminate in a high-level ‘Global Education Summit: Refinancing GPE 2021-2025’, co-hosted by the two heads of state, to take place on July 28 – 29 in the UK.
President Uhuru Kenyatta and UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson are set to co-chair the global education summit.
The funds raised also seek to get 175 million more children into quality education in 87 lower and middle-income countries.
The UK is one of the largest donors to GPE, contributing about 13 per cent of the GPE income since 2005.
Kenya has been the largest beneficiary, receiving Sh10.9 billion to date.
With GPE support, Kenya has made strides progress, including a 70 per cent reduction in the cost of textbooks, the equal enrollment of girls and boys, and the training of 102,000 teachers in innovative teaching methods.
School grants for improvement
GPE funding has also supported allocation of school grants to implement activities outlined in schools’ improvement plans.
According to GPE data, 4,000 schools have so far participated, including 1,400 schools located in the marginalized arid and semi-arid counties.
“Each school received a US$5,000 grant towards initiatives including the construction of toilets, activities to raise community awareness about the importance of girls’ education and training of volunteers to keep girls safe on their way to school,” says GPE.
Other activities include providing girls with scholarships, free menstrual pads and collecting household information on girls at risk of dropping out, in order to find ways to support girls to continue with their studies.
