NAIVASHA, Kenya Feb 27 \u2013 Basic Education Principal Secretary Julius Bitok has urged the Senate to push for harmonised Early Childhood Development and Education (ECDE) schemes of service, establishment of child-friendly learning centres and a national school feeding framework covering all four million pre-primary learners.<\/p>\n
Speaking during the Senate Assessment and Planning Retreat for the 5th Session held at Sawela Lodge in Naivasha, Bitok delivered a keynote address titled: \u201cThe State of Education in Kenya: Management of Education Policy and Standards.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n Bitok told senators that Kenya is undergoing major reforms under the Competency Based Education (CBE) framework, revealing that the pioneer Grade 9 cohort has nearly achieved 100% transition to Grade 10 following the Kenya Junior Secondary Education Assessment (KJSEA).<\/p>\n He confirmed that the government has hired 100,000 teachers, expanded infrastructure including classrooms and laboratories, and ensured capitation funds were disbursed on time this term.<\/p>\n The Ministry of Education\u2019s total annual budget now exceeds Sh700 billion, with Sh245.9 billion allocated to Basic Education. However, Bitok noted a Sh111 billion funding gap affecting Free Primary Education, school feeding and national assessments.<\/p>\n The PS emphasized that county governments, under the Fourth Schedule of the Constitution, are responsible for implementing and managing Early Childhood Development Education (ECDE).<\/p>\n He urged senators to exercise oversight to ensure County Integrated Development Plans (CIDPs) prioritize safe, modern and child-friendly ECDE infrastructure, noting that some centres still operate under trees or in dilapidated structures.<\/p>\n Bitok also called for harmonisation of ECDE teachers\u2019 schemes of service, warning that delayed salaries, lack of pensions and short-term contracts undermine professionalism.<\/p>\n \u201cAn unhappy teacher cannot be entrusted with nurturing a child\u2019s mind,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n On nutrition, Bitok urged the Senate to advocate for a National-County Nutritional Framework to guarantee at least one fortified meal daily for every ECDE learner across all 47 counties.<\/p>\n \u201cYou cannot teach a hungry child,\u201d he told lawmakers, noting disparities where some counties run strong feeding programmes while others have none.<\/p>\n He further appealed for support of the proposed Basic Education (Amendment) Bill, 2025, which seeks to clarify roles between national and county governments and strengthen coordination.<\/p>\n Bitok concluded by reminding senators that their oversight role is critical in bridging the gap between children\u2019s potential and reality.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" NAIVASHA, Kenya Feb 27 \u2013 Basic Education Principal Secretary Julius Bitok has urged the Senate to push for harmonised Early Childhood Development and Education (ECDE) schemes of service, establishment of child-friendly learning centres and a national school feeding framework covering all four million pre-primary learners. Speaking during the Senate Assessment and Planning Retreat for the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-132474","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","entry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/132474","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=132474"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/132474\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=132474"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=132474"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=132474"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}