Education Ministry- How Co-Curricular funds are to be shared between schools, Sub- Counties, Counties and Regions

Education Ministry- How Co-Curricular funds are to be shared between schools, Sub- Counties, Counties and Regions
File photo- Students participate at a past KSSSA Cross Country championship. The Ministry of Education is introduced a number of changes to Co- curricular activities this year.

The Ministry of Education has has given details on how funds meant for Co-curricular activities are to be shared by schools, Sub- counties, counties and Regions. Via a circular dated 15th February, 2019 and christened “Disbursement of Co- Curricular Activity Funds for the Financial Year 2018/2019”, the Ministry says it will release Co- curricular activity money in three tranches from 3 sources. The sources have been sated as Co- Curricular Activity (CCA) Vote head, Free Primary Education (FPE) funds and Free Day Secondary Education (FDSE) funds.

The government allocates a total of Kshs 1,500 per secondary school student under the FDSE capitation programme. While, parents are expected to top with Kshs 798 for learners in Category ‘A’ boarding schools. Category “A’ boarding schools are National schools and Extra County schools situated in Nairobi, Mombasa, Nakuru, Kisumu, Nyeri, Thika and Eldoret.

For Category ‘B’ boarding schools, parents top up with Kshs 250 per learner in a year. Category ‘B’ schools are boarding schools and Extra County schools in all other areas. For learners in Day Secondary schools, the parents are not expected to pay any monies towards the activity fee.

The Ministry of education disburses Co- Curricular Activity funds to the Sub- county Directors of Education (SCDEs), County Directors of Education (CDEs) and Regional Coordinators of Education (RCEs). These field officers have Authority to incur expenses for the various activities. In the 2018/ 2019 academic year, the Ministry has already released the first tranche of the funds to the field officers. “In October, 2018, the 1st tranche was released while the 2nd disbursement will be done in April, 2019,” says P.S Khaemba (Writing on behalf of the Principal Secretary Dr. Belio Kipsang) in the latest circular; dated 15th February, 2019. The Ministry has disbursed Kshs. 280,000 to all Sub- counties in the first tranche. On the other hand, Counties and Regions have received Kshs 1.5 million and Kshs 2.5 Million respectively to run term one activities. The second disbursement to be done in April, 2019, will see Sub- counties receive Kshs 250,000, while counties and regions will receive Kshs. 1.3 million and Kshs 2.5 million respectively from the Co- curricular activity funds kitty; to run term two activities.

A total of Kshs 8.5 million was slashed from the Free Primary Education capitation and disbursed to SCDEs, CDEs and RCEs. For Sub- counties, the government slashed Kshs 20 per learner from the activity vote head. Similarly, Kshs 13 and Kshs 7 per learner were chopped off the activity vote head and disbursed to Counties and Regions, respectively, in January 2019.

For secondary schools, the government slashed a total of Kshs 650 per learner from the Activity vote head of the Kshs 1,500 allocated to each learner. This means that schools were left with Kshs 850 per learner to coordinate Co- curricular activities at the school, zonal and divisional levels. The total activity fee accrued from slashing the FDSE funds and disbursed to the education Ministry’s field officers is Kshs 2.5 million. Kshs 370, 200 and 80 was deducted from every learner from the Activity vote head and disbursed to Sub- counties, Counties and Regions; respectively.

“The total allocation for the Sub- county level and also for the counties were shared equally across the board irrespective of the students’ population. However, the regional funding varied due to the number of counties in the region and disparities caused by other socio ecological factors,” explains Khaemba. The amounts distributed to Sub- counties, counties and Regions to run Co- curricular activities are as shown in the table, below:

Sub- County
(Kshs)
County
(Kshs)
Region
(Kshs)
FPE Funds492,7002,351,0005m- 11.5 m
FDSE Funds2,680,00010,638,00019m- 43m
Total3,172,70012,989,0025m- 54.5m

The Ministry has already provided guidelines on how the funds are to be utilized; as captured, below:

GUIDELINES ON MANAGEMENT OF CO-CURRICULAR ACTIVITIES FUNDS AT SUB-COUNTIES, COUNTIES AND REGIONAL LEVELS 2018/2019 FINANCIAL YEAR


Co-curricular activities continue to play a very critical and important role in the learners education process. The Competency Based Curriculum has considered talent development as an important component that will enable the learner realize holistic education by developing skills, values and knowledge that will apply in real life situation and become productive members of our society.


The co-curricular activities funded and coordinated by the Ministry of Education include;
a) Primary schools games and sports
b) Secondary schools games and sports
c) Special needs education secondary schools games and sports
d) Special needs education primary schools games and sports
e) Music festival
f Drama festival
9) Science and Engineering Fair


FUNDING OF CO-CURRICULAR ACTIVITIES
The government is committed to funding all the co-curricular activities. In 2018/2019, the source of funds include
a) Co-curricular vote-head at the Ministry of Education budget
b) Activity fees from Free Primary Education (FPE)
c) Activity fee from Free Day Secondary Education (FDSE)

MANAGEMENT OF CO-CURRICULAR ACTIVITIES
For purposes of accountability and transparency in the management of co-curricular activities, there shall be established the following management committees at the sub-county, county and regional levels;
a) Co-curricular Activities Sub-county Committee
b) Co-curricular Activities County Committee
c) Co-curricular Activities Regional Committee
The committees will comprise;
a) One (1) member from Kenya Primary Schools Heads Association (KEPSHA)
b) One (1) member from Kenya Secondary Schools Heads Association (KESSHA)
c) The Education Director at each level – chair of the committee
d) The Quality Assurance & Standards Officer
e) Chairmen of the various co-curricular activities
f) The TSC director or his/her representative at each level
g) One (1) member from Kenya Private Schools Association (KPSA)
h) One (1) representative from Special Needs Education
i) The secretary to the committee will be an Education Officer/Quality Assurance Officer
appointed by SCDE, CDE or RCE at every level
Functions of the committee will be;
i)Budgeting for funds released by MOE Headquarters
li) Programming
ii) Coordination of activities
v) Fund raising/partners


The various levels (school, sub-county, county, region and national) should strive to follow guidelines when managing the co-curricular activities.
a) All activities should follow their respective constitutions.
b) The management committees should be made aware of the amount of funds allocated to that station by MOE Headquarters (Ministry of Education)
c) The management committees should be involved in planning and budgeting of funds.
d) The funds released are supposed to cater for all the 2019 activities including those that will be held in July 2019
e) The budget should only be drawn from the allocated funds and from sponsors (if any).
f Parents should not be requested to fund the co-curricular activities at any level.
g) Prudent utilization of funds should be observed at all levels.
h) The committee should be aware of the austerity measures imposed by the National
Treasury which should be cascaded downwards.
forcing the lower level to chip in.
care of the following;
i) Each level should carry its own burden of managing activities at that level without
j) The budget at each level (i.e. sub-county, county and region) should strive to take care of the following:

  • Travel, accommodation and subsistence of all students participants at all levels.
  • Facilitation of the judges, referees, adjudicators and other officials at that level
  • Preparation of fields, halls, exhibition rooms etc at the level
  • Acquisition of trophies, certificates and other awards at the level.
  • Maintenance of security and health issues during the activities at that level.
  • Identification of the hosting venues.
  • pending bills are not allowed.

k). The budget should also cater for the following when going to the next level:

  • Transportation of the teams to the next level.
  • Facilitation of their officials (Team managers, chaperons, drivers, executive committee members) while accompanying their teams to the next level.

READ RELATED CONTENT:

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

*