The Government of Kenya will soon start paying high school students for simply being in high schools!
Secondary school students in Kenya will start receiving monthly allowances as the Ministry of Education comes up with innovative ways to instill money skills and also deal with the long absence from schools as a result of Covid-19.
The controversial new plan seeks to keep high school students engaged at the moment but also help attract students to stick to school as research shows that a significant number of students do not transition from primary to secondary schools.
“It is something we have done in the past, although for college students. In the 80s, we used to pay University students to be in school, in addition to providing them with free food, books and education. The allowance was meant to help them start investing and learn to be self sufficient at an early age. It can be done!”
The allowances will be graduated depending on the type of high school that one attends. The actual figures have not yet decided on, but insider say that it will range from KShs 1800 per month in day schools to KShs 3000 per month in National Schools. The amount will also vary depending with the class with form four students receiving the most and form ones the least.
The new initiative will also help the Ministry of Education to put into good use the excess money it has been holding. “Treasury has been sending to us a lot of money and we have nowhere to take it. We want to ensure that it goes straight to the beneficiaries who need it most. In future, we could even consider primary school students but that is a little bit hard to implement.”
The Kenya Revenue Authority is keenly following on this development in the hope that they can cash in on the money. “We hope to raise some good amount of money from taxing these new allowances. If the program starts early enough, we will be able to cover the budget deficit which is rising due to the economic impacts of Covid-19.”
