Relief for schools as Gov't releases Ksh.30 billion capitation funds

The government has released the second batch of Ksh.30.5 billion for secondary school education capitation, loans and scholarships for students in universities. 

Education Cabinet Secretary Ezekiel Machogu, in a statement released on Wednesday, announced that the funds would be received in schools before they break for the April holidays next week.

CS Machogu said Ksh.7 billion would go to the Junior Secondary Schools (JSS) in public schools while Ksh.16 billion would be channelled to the Free Day Secondary School education programme as grants.

He said the remaining Ksh.6.794 billion would go to the universities for loans while Ksh.3.98 billion will be disbursed for scholarships.

The allocation, noted the CS, brings to Ksh.32 billion and Ksh.12 billion the total amount released by the government for loans and scholarships respectively this financial year. 

In January, CS Machogu announced the release of Ksh.14.4 billion to cover scholarships and loans for government-sponsored first year students in semester two of the 2023/2024 academic year.

In October last year, the government disbursed Ksh.5.3 billion for student loans and a further Ksh.10.3 billion was released to HELB in September 2023 to cater for continuing student loans in universities and TVET colleges.

Students were allocated their individual shares through the recently established Means Testing Instrument (MTI), which determines the student’s level of financial need.