Education

Introduction

The Department of Education & Vocational Training is a devolved function pursuant to Schedule 4 of the Constitution of Kenya, 2010.
The Department is divided into four directories, namely: ECDE & Libraries, Quality Assurance, Standards & Child Care, Administration & Human Resources and Vocational Training.

Background

The enactment of the CoK (2010) and subsequent Basic Education Act (2013) transformed the delivery of education services to the Counties.
The Basic Edu. Act underpins entitlements of children and young people, enshrining the right to free and compulsory basic education. Section 18 of the Act provides for administering the ECD education in Counties.

According to the Kenya census report 2019, Mombasa has a population 0f 175,777 children who are under 5 years of age.
There are 47,867 children of 4-5 years who are attending ECD education in both public and private centers.
There are 98 public and 770 registered private ECDE centers in Mombasa County. This indicates that the children who attend the public ECD centers are 18.02% of all school-going children.

Mombasa County Childcare Bill, 2024.
Child Care services: Nurture first home-based care and School Feeding Programme.
Elimu Fund Scheme: Capitation Grant Policy.
Access to quality Education: Capacity Building for ECD personnel and TAYARI- Digital Learning Programme.
Health Services: Under 5 yrs old’s free medical care, Newborn Unit facilities and at school Immunization and Related Programmes.
Library Services Monitoring and Evaluation.

The Bill provides for the assessment, registration, and licensing management of childcare facilities in the County for matters incidental thereto.
It addresses 5 areas as follows: home, school, transport, religious institutions, and recreational facilities.
The Act is being repealed to accommodate Home Based Child Care which had not been captured previously.

The department has identified and conducted mapping and baseline(Quality) Needs Assessment of 2,300 home based childcare (HBCC).
The HBCC accommodates over 9,000 children.
Mapping was done in collaboration with department of health and in partnership with Nuture-FIrst, an organization under the umbrella of Global Development Incubation(GDI).

The County Government has continuously improved the learning environment by:

Constructing 8 model schools with a total of 50 classrooms fully furnished, modern dining & kitchen, administration block and a sick bay.
In addition, the County Government is refurbishing and modernizing 16 ECDE centers across the sub counties with a total of 64 classrooms by the end of this academic year.

The ECD feeding program is provided in partnership with’Food for Education’ at a cost of Kes.84 million.
It was launched by H.E the Governor Abdulswamad Shariff Nassir on 15th February, 2023.
A daily hot nutritious meal is served to 10,233 learners in all public ECD and special units for free courtesy to H.E the Governor Abdulswamad Shariff Nassir.
The Departmnt of education has a line budget that suppports the program in partnership with the F4E organization. This is on a shilling to a shilling PPP agreement as per the MOU.

The Capitation Grant Policy in the County Government of Mombasa will ensure enhanced access, quality, equity, inclusivity and efficient management of early childhood development and education centers.
Every learner in the Public ECDE centre will receive a capitation grant of Kes. 3,200 (three thousand two hundred only) per year in FY 2024/2025.
The disbursement will be done in 3 tranches of 50%, 30% and 20% adapted from the Ministry of Education capitation grant model.

The County Government of Mombasa has partnered with various stakeholders to enhance the professional capacity of ECD coordinators, quality assurance officers and over 200 teachers
Thematic areas of training include: TAYARI/digital literacy, value-based education, leadership & supervisory skills.
Mapping was done in collaboration with department of health and in partnership with Nuture-FIrst, an organization under the umbrella of Global Development Incubation(GDI).

The Department of Education , health, and partners have collaborated in providing weighing scales to our ECDE centers for growth monitoring, provision of Vitamin A supplementation, deworming Programs and administration of Polio jabs.
Under 5-years-olds receive free medical care at all County medical facilities.
Newborn unit facility.

The Department holds annual co-curricular activities for the ECD children. The activities include sports and music festivals which are held from sub-county to county level.

The Department of Education is mandated to Monitor the following programs: school feeding, capitation grant, all childcare facilities, competency-based Curriculum implementation, and infrastructure facilities in collaboration with public works officers.
Monitoring and evaluation ensures quality and prudent management of the resources.