SPEECH BY HON. DR. NOAH WEKESA, MINISTER FOR EDUCATION DURING THE OFFICIAL OPENING OF THE REGIONAL CONFERENCE ON ABOLITION OF FEES AND LEVIES HELD AT THE HILTON HOTEL, NAIROBI-KENYA ON 5 TH APRIL 2006 Mr. Chairman, Representatives of Development Partners including UNICEF, World Bank, JICA, UNESCO, and other distinguished delegates from participating countries, Ladies and Gentlemen, I am happy to be here with you today during the official opening of this important regional workshop on Abolition of Fees and Levies in primary schools. I wish from the onset to thank the UNICEF Regional Office for organizing this very important workshop and more particularly for choosing Kenya as the host country. This is a great honour to us. I am informed that six countries participating in this workshop, namely Kenya, Tanzania, Malawi, Mozambique, Ghana and Ethiopia have already taken bold step in abolishing school fees and levies in their respective public primary schools. The economic development of any country is largely dependent on the development of its human resource base. This development can only be achieved if the citizens of any country are offered the opportunity to access and complete a given cycle in education and in particular basic education. In the African region, and the world at large, the charging of school fees and
2 levies to households is a major barrier that prevents all children from accessing and completing quality basic education. This is particularly significant in countries where prevailing high poverty levels impose tough choices on families and households, about how many and which of their children to send to school, and for how long. The burden of such costs on poor households can be significant. For instance school fees accounts for 16 percent of household spending on non-food items in Zambia and 12-18 percent in Ghana. In the case of Kenya, the Second Report on Poverty in Kenya, 2000, revealed that 56 percent of Kenyans live below the poverty line with 30.7 percent of the children out of school citing inability to afford as the main reason for non-attendance. In the past, attempts by many African Governments to address the issues of access did not yield the intended results. Many children remained out of schools because the Governments could not afford free education due to the prevailing economic trends. In particular, the Structural Adjustment Programmes introduced in many African countries by the Brettonwood Institutions during the eighties aggravated the situation by placing extra burden on citizens including cost sharing in schools. This hindered many children especially from poor households and economically marginalised communities from accessing education. Ladies and Gentlemen, when Kenya introduced SAPs in 1989, the Gross Enrolment Rate at primary level was 105.4 percent. This however, took a downward trend during the nineties and early 2000, when GER registered an all time low of 88.2 percent in 2002. This was a clear indication that majority of Kenyan citizens could not afford the fees and levies that were being charged at primary level during that time. Elements of costs of
3 schooling borne by households vary from country to country, but typically include tuition fees, compulsory uniforms, charges for textbooks and other learning materials; transport to/from school, meals, examination fees, as well as the various miscellaneous charges (e.g. PTA dues, school-based activity fees, etc). Within sub-saharan Africa, indirect fees (PTA and community contributions) are the most prevalent type of fees levied in most schools. With the declining enrolments and the heavy burden of education being borne by households in most countries in the region, it is apparent that majority of the countries would not achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) as well as the Education For All (EFA) by 2015. There is however, a growing momentum worldwide to abolish school fees and levies as a strategy of enhancing the attainment of MDGs and EFA. In this regard, it is gratifying to note that Africa as a region has risen to the challenge in that majority of the participating countries in this workshop have taken that bold initiative. Indeed, abolition of fees and levies counts among the major factors which impact on enrolment growth rates. Ladies and Gentlemen, when free schooling was introduced in Uganda in 1997, primary school enrolment nearly doubled from 3.4 million to 5.7 million pupils, rising further to 6.5 million by 1999. In Tanzania, the elimination of primary school fees in 2002 raised the enrolment by 1.5 million pupils. Furthermore, in Kenya, the introduction of Free Primary Education in January 2003 raised enrolment by 1 million from 5.9 million to 6.9 million. By December 2003, the enrolment had shot up to 7.2 million. Currently, enrolment in public primary schools stands
4 at 7.6 million pupils. This reflects an increase in enrolment of over 28 percent in a span of three years. Initially, due to the upsurge in enrolments which was not matched with adequate supply of instructional materials, performance in the primary examination (KCPE) declined. However, as more instructional materials were supplied to schools through the FPE initiative, the situation was reversed in 2004 and is now on the upward trend. It is therefore evident that abolition of fees/levies and provision of instructional materials can be cited as important policy measures that have had a dramatic and transforming impact on school enrolments and quality. So far, these measures have had a big impact in encouraging children from disadvantaged background to participate in education. Further, as a result of the removal of fees burden from parents, many households are bringing both boys and girls to school and this has had positive impact on equity. The Government has also brought on board Non- Formal Schools for provision of capitation grants under the FPE programme. This has assisted orphans and other vulnerable children mainly in urban slums in accessing quality education. Ladies and gentlemen, I am informed that the main objectives of this workshop is to harness experiential knowledge on planning and implementing school fee abolition policies and to consolidate partnerships for short and medium term support to countries which have chosen the path of this bold policy measure. In this workshop, therefore, participating countries will have an opportunity to discuss key issues, challenges, coping mechanisms and lessons learnt in planning and implementing policies on school fees and levies abolition. This sharing of experience will also act as a learning opportunity to
5 those countries and Governments willing to engage in this noble process of school fees abolition. This workshop will also give the participating countries an opportunity of discussing the challenges they would continue addressing in sustaining their fees abolition and mobilization of technical and financial support from development partners. Distinguished participants, apart from abolition of fees and levies, countries need to address other factors that act as barriers to access in education. Some of these include: socialcultural factors such as early marriages, female genital mutilation (FGM), issues of hard-to-reach children and other orphans and vulnerable children and including HIV/AIDS orphans. Multisectoral collaboration in the provision of other needs such as water and sanitation, school feeding, health and safe school zones are also critical to the success of such a programme. Other essential ingredients include: Political commitment and goodwill; Consensus of national/regional leadership and the need for international aid to fill the gap of national budgets to ensure quality, equity and efficiency of programmes; Innovativeness on the part of the implementing country; Immense courage and unflinching national commitment. It is important to note that even after abolishing fees and levies in our various countries, we must be ready to grapple with the challenges of sustainability of the programme and maintenance
6 of quality education being delivered to our children. For FPE to be sustainable, the greatest portion of fund should be sourced through the national budget, while the private sector and communities should participate in the provision of physical facilities. External assistance should only come in to fill the gaps where they exist. This enhances ownership of the programme by the implementing country. Kenya on its part has entrenched FPE programme in the Kenya Education Sector Support Programme (KESSP), which is a five-year implementation plan for the education sector developed through a sector-wide approach. It is also important for implementing countries to have adequate distributive capacities in place. In our case, FPE funds are easily distributed to school through an elaborate banking network through Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT). Through this system, schools are able to access funds within 48 hours after funds leave the Ministry s main account, thereby, enhancing our absorptive capacity. As I conclude, I wish all the participants fruitful deliberations in this workshop. The Operational Guidance Paper that will emanate from this workshop will help countries strengthen their programmes and provide a framework for other countries that are still charging fees. Finally, I wish to encourage our visitors to take advantage of Kenya s beautiful landscapes and diverse cultural heritage by taking some time off after the workshop to visit our national museums and game parks.
7 It is now my great pleasure to declare this regional workshop on abolition of fees and levies in primary schools officially opened. THANK YOU.