The Kenya National Association of Parents (KNAP) has rejected the government’s allocation of Sh53.2 billion (US$620.4 million) in last week’s budget to provide free laptops to public primary school pupils.
The Standard reports KNAP secretary general Musau Ndunda as saying the laptop project should not be the first priority and the government has failed to conduct a thorough assessment before implementing the project.
“There are several white elephants that have been initiated in the Ministry of Education. The Economic Stimulus Package did not take off even after the government injected KSh30 million (US$350,000) into the programme,” said Ndunda.
Ndunda said instead of the laptop project, the Jubilee government should have taken more concern in hiring more teachers, pointing out more than 70 per cent of schools are not embracing the laptop project.
“The Jubilee government should have to prioritised recruitment of 40,000 teachers to enhance learning in schools. KSh15.4 billion (US$180 million) should have been set aside to hire teachers to ease shortage that currently stands at 80,000,” said Ndunda.
He also expressed his concern over KSh120 million (US$2 million) allocated for a fire safety project in 2004, saying students are still sleeping in poor structured dormitories.
“Before a project of such magnitude is initiated, the government should evaluate how many past projects have succeeded. KSh7 billion (US$82 million) worth of books have gone down the drain in the textbook programme for primary schools,” said Ndunda.
Mr Ndunda finally said implementation of the scheme might not work since many bodies have rejected it, including teachers groups.
“How will the programme succeed if teachers who are expected to implement it have opposed it?” he asked.
