The Ministry of Education has released new guidelines for all Co-Curricular activities. In the new guidelines, responsibilities of various officials to be in charge of the Co-curricular activities have been stipulated. Financing for Co-Curricular activities has also been outlined. The sources for funding include: Co- Curricular Activity (CCA) Vote head, Free Primary Education (FPE) funds and Free Day Secondary Education (FDSE) funds. The Ministry of education disburses Co- Curricular Activity funds to the Sub- county Directors of Education (SCDEs), County Directors of Education (CDEs) and Regional Directors of Education (RDEs). These field officers have Authority to incur expenses for the various activities.
During the co-curricular activities retreat held on 23rd to 25th September, 2019 at Machakos University, the stakeholders revised the guidelines that were earlier released on 5th November, 2018 and 28th January, 2019 on the above mentioned subject.
This revision is aimed at promoting fairness in co-curricular activities expenditure at the various levels. The guidelines are as follows;
The participating schools are to meet all costs at school up to the zonal level. Such expenses include:
The schools are expected to get funds for this purpose from the activities fund and should not charge parents.
During the county championship, the respective SCDE and CDE will be responsible for their teams as follows;
At this level, the CDE and RDE will be expected to share the expenses as follows:
At this level, the RDE and MOE HQs will share expenses as follows;
If a region is hosting the national championship, the RDE will be required to;
The Teachers Service Commission, TSC, is planning to recruit an additional 5,000 teachers on permanent and pensionable terms. This is according to the commission boss Dr. Nancy Macharia. While appearing before the National Assembly’s Education Committee on Tuesday, Dr. Macharia said the teachers’ employer will require close to Sh1.2 billion in the 2020/2021 financial year to recruit the teachers so as to close the teething staff shortages experienced in public schools.
She said part of the money will be required to recruit 10,000 more teachers on internship. There are currently over 10,000 intern teachers who were recruited during the 2019/ 2020 financial year.
This comes as the commission reports that the country is facing a shortage of about 50,000 teachers. A situation that has greatly overburdened the available tutors. According to Dr. Macharia, primary schools require 48,173 more teachers to address the shortage. There are 211,046 primary school teachers currently out of the required number of 259,219.
Garissa, West Pokot, Wajir and Narok counties headline the list of counties with the highest staff shortages. A closer look at this list shows that most of these areas are largely hardship areas.
Nairobi, Kirinyaga, Laikipia, Uasin Gishu, Nyeri, Nyandarua, Murang’a, Meru, Isiolo, Elgeyo Marakwet, Embu and Kiambu counties are more comfortable in terms of meeting their staffing needs.
This is how we will recover lost time when schools reopen: CS Magoha tells MPS
The commission is at the same time seeking about Sh500 million to be used by its field operations to facilitate its officers.
“Field officers play a key role in ensuring maintenance of teaching standards through regular monitoring and quality assurance at the school level,” Dr. Macharia told Legislators this past Tuesday.
On his part, Education Cabinet Secretary says the ministry is in need of Sh429 million to mitigate the effects of covid-19 in the sector. Prof. Magoha says part of the funds will be utilize in buying sanitizers, soaps, masks and carry out covid-19 tests for staff and students in the various Technical and Vocational Education and Training, TVET, institutions in the country.
The CS, while appearing before the National Assembly’s Education Committee on Tuesday, sought for an additional Sh6.6 billion shillings. Of this amount, Sh3.8 billion will be used in catering for needs of the projected 300,000 new numbers of TVET students. There are currently 173,000 students studying in the TVETS countrywide. The remaining Sh2.8 billion is to be directed towards recruitment of an additional 3,674 TVBETs tutors.
The The Kenya Universities and Colleges Central Placement Service (KUCCPS) is mandated with the responsibility of placing students to higher institutions of learning; Universities, Colleges, Polytechnics and TVETs. KUCCPS usually opens the student portal to give an opportunity for students who did not secure placement during school application, first and second revisions.
Such Students can then submit application for a Diploma, Craft Certificate or Artisan Certificate in a National Polytechnic, Technical Training Institute or Technical Vocational College of your choice.
This year KUCCPS has opened the portal for all form four graduates who want to further studies to make their applications, online. The online application portal is now open and will close on December 31, 2019.
To qualify for TVET programmes, one must meet these basic requirements: Must score;
| Level | KCSE Mean Grade |
| Diploma | C- (minus) and above |
| Craft Certificate | D (plain) and above |
| Artisan Certificate | D-(minus) and below |
The available programmes, institutions, minimum entry requirements and the application procedure are available on the KUCCPS Student’s Portal accessible through the Placement Service website www.kuccps.ac.ke.
All KCSE certificate holders who have not benefited from government sponsorship before are eligible to apply where they meet the minimum requirements.
Applicants who need assistance should visit the KUCCPS desks in the following Huduma Centres: Nairobi (GPO and Makadara), Eldoret, Meru, Nyeri, Kisumu, Kakamega, Nakuru, Kitui, Garissa and Mombasa. Assistance may also be obtained at the KUCCPS offices at ACK Garden House (Ground Floor) on 1st Ngong Avenue in Community Area, Nairobi.
