Nairobi Governor Johnson Sakaja has announced the allocation of 100 million Kenyan shillings for a free Early Childhood Development Education (ECDE) program in Nairobi County. During the program’s launch, Sakaja expressed his goal of increasing the number of children enrolled in public ECDE from 30,000 to 60,000 within the year and expanding further thereafter.
Each pupil in public pre-primary schools will receive 3,200 shillings from the allocated funds, with a total of 100 million shillings being set aside for the schools’ boards of management to use based on agreed-upon guidelines.
Today we start with 30,000 pupils in our public pre-primary schools. Each will have 3,200 shillings set aside. A total of Ksh.100 million will be set aside for the boards of these schools to use according to the guidelines already agreed and in force,” Sakaja said.
He also revealed plans for the construction of 5,000 classrooms in collaboration with the national government, where 3,500 classrooms will be built by them and 1,500 by the county government. An additional 100 million shillings has been allocated for the construction and rehabilitation of ECDEs and vocational training centers. The management of these funds will be entrusted to the ECDEs boards of management. The county government will actively recruit new ECDE teachers to meet the necessary staffing requirements for the success of the program.
Additionally, the county boss introduced a subsidy of 31 million shillings for Vocational Training Centers in the county, which will support 2,000 trainees in seven vocational training centers: Bahati, Dandora Greenlight, Mathare, Waithaka, Kangemi, and Kiwanja. The subsidy aims to assist trainees in accessing vocational training opportunities.
“I am delighted to announce that we’re also launching the Subsidized Vocational Training Centers’ Support Grant from the National Government of KShs31 million to cater for 2,000 Trainees in 7 vocational training centers,” he stated.
Earlier in June, Sakaja announced a food subsidy program worth 1.2 billion shillings that will benefit 250,000 children in the county. As part of the program, central kitchens will be established in various sub-counties to provide nutritious meals for school feeding. These kitchens, located in Dagoretti North, Embakasi Central, Embakasi South, Kasarani, Kibra, Makadara, Starehe, Roysambu, Ruaraka, and Westlands, will prepare around 10,000 meals daily. Parents are expected to contribute 5 shillings per learner per day, while the Nairobi County Government will cover the remaining costs.
Governor Sakaja emphasized that the School Feeding Program, known as ‘Dishi na County,’ aims to improve the nutritional status of enrolled learners, encourage school attendance, and enhance enrollment, academic performance, and transition to higher levels of education.