EDUCATION FUNDS SET TO DECLINE AS DONOR FUNDING NOSEDIVES; LATEST EDUCATION NEWS, KENYA

EDUCATION FUNDS SET TO DECLINE AS DONOR FUNDING NOSEDIVES; LATEST EDUCATION NEWS, KENYA

Kenya is currently anticipating a huge drop in education funding once learning resumes in January since donor support will shrink as a result of the economic recession propagated by the covid- 19 pandemic.

According to the UNESCO Global Education Monitoring, GEM report, global aid to education is likely to decline to pose a great threat to the recovery of the sector from the severe outcomes of the pandemic.

The Kenyan education sector receives a huge chunk of money from the exchequer annually with a number of donors plugging the deficits.

School Improvement Project

Kenya is one of the beneficiaries of the multibillion School Improvement Project, SIP that has seen enabled schools to improve academically.

In 2018, Kenya received sh 87 billion for education funding from the United States government and the world bank. What is worrying is that the overall funding is set to reduce greatly by a projected 22% drop in many countries.

Speaking to The Standard, Audrey Azoulay, UNESCO director-general expressed her fears that the pandemic may make many countries lag behind.

“Just ad aid to education seemed to have recovered its lost momentum, the Covid-19 pandemic threatens to take us back several years,” said Azoulay.

Another report by UNESCO also indicates that domestic funding of the education sector will decline following the stringent measures needed to mitigate virus effects.

The report dubbed “Anticipated Impact of Covid-19 on Public Expenditures on Education and Implication” shows that the economic impact of coronavirus will exceed that of the year 2008.

MORE AID

Besides, this is the time that many countries need more aid following the havoc caused by the pandemic.

The education ministry in Kenya for instance has requested for sh 1.5 billion funding to assist education institutions put in place measures to mitigate virus impact. Some of the preparations needed in the post-covid-19 era include fumigation and improvement of learning institutions.

EDUCATION REFORMS

Some countries are already training more teachers and scaling up e-learning to support the sector.

Others have initiated extra sanitary measures in schools to curb the spread of the coronavirus.

The extra resources needed for these measures are crucial to many countries but nations with limited resources and struggling economies will struggle to make ends meet.

Extended closure of schools in many countries will thus definitely lead to strain on education systems across the world.

UNESCO’s projection is not far-fetched since the recession has affected the top 10 bilateral donors for education. Therefore, the pandemic’s impact on education is likely to be twice as severe compared to the financial crunch of 2007-2008.