Disbursement delays have nothing to do with poor KCSE performance: Former education asst. minister

Kilemi Mwiria, a former assistant minister for education, argues that delays in the disbursement of government funds to secondary schools have nothing to do with the dismal performance recorded by some candidates in the just-released Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) examination results.

Speaking on Citizen TV’s The Explainer program on Tuesday, Dr Mwiria submitted that of more importance is how the funds are used rather than when they get to schools.

“I don’t want to agree with that the reason the results have been so bad is because of these delays. There have been delays throughout and results have been the way we have gotten used to them over many many years. It is not a new thing,” the former assistant minister said.

“I think the more important question is once the funds get there, how are these resources being used? The use of resources is much more critical than when they come in, obviously, we agree that it is better if they get on time, but we must look beyond that,” he added.

Mwiria nonetheless acknowledged that disbursement delays jeopardise learning in public schools, saying, “When there are delays, there are certain things that can’t go on, especially if you think about many of the schools that don’t have teachers that are supported by the government. The parents have to pay for the teachers and many other needs.”

The government has been on the receiving end of criticism over delays in releasing all the funds meant for learners in public schools.

Meanwhile, the 2023 KCSE results released by Education Cabinet Secretary Ezekiel Machogu showed that of the 899,453 candidates who sat their exams last year, 201,133 students attained above C+, which is the minimum university entry qualification.

Another 92,612 attained a C, 107,471 scored C-, 125,006 D+, 155,276 D and 165,861 scored D-.

There was however a large number of candidates who scored grade E (48,174), to which CS Machogu called for a probe.