Discussion Paper No. 46 of 2004 on Achieving Universal Primary School Education in Kenya

Abstract

The Kenya government has given education a high priority as a vehicle of national development. As a result, the national education system has expanded rapidly since independence. Before the implementation offr ee primary education in the year 2003, the government was spending over 55% of its education expenditure on primary school education. Teachers' salaries constituted over 95% of the fiscal resources allocated to primary school education. Despite Kenya's high level of expenditure on education, primary school enrolment has been declining since early 1990s until 2003 when gross primary school enrolment increased to 103% after the introduction offr ee primary education. However, with an estimated net primary school enrolment rate of 77%, Kenya is far from achieving universal primary education. Allocation of resources within the education sector seems to be ineffective because the increasing expenditure on education goes to recurrent expenditure to pay teachers' salaries. Kenya's Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP) and the Economic Recovery Strategy for Wealth and Employment Creation outline education targets for reaching education for all by 2015. For the education targets to be realized, the available resources need to be allocated efficiently. This paper uses the Budget Negotiation Framework (BNF) to analyse cost effective ways of resource allocation in the education sector. The BNF is a tool that aims at achieving equity and efficiency in resource allocation. Results from the analysis show that provision of education for all in Kenya by the year 2015 is a feasible target.