Economic Survey 2004

The Government’s overall expenditure in the social sector increased by 16.6 percent from Ksh 93,975.47 million in 2002/2003 to Ksh 109,570.16 million in 2003/2004 financial year. The increase in expenditure was mainly due to the implementation of the Free Primary Education Programme and the salary increase awarded to teachers by the Government. The total school enrolment in primary schools increased by 17.6 per cent, equivalent to 1,077.1 thousand pupils, from 6,131.0 thousand in 2002 to 7,208.1 thousand in 2003. Enrolment in secondary schools increased modestly from 819,227 in 2002 to 862,907 in 2003. The number of teachers in primary schools went up slightly from 178,037 in 2002 to 178,622 in 2003, with the pupil teacher ratio worsening from 34:1 in 2002 to 40:1 in 2003. The number of health facilities increased marginally by 1.3 percent from 4,499 in 2002 to 4,557 in 2003, while hospital beds and cots increased by 4.5 percent from 60,657 to 63,407 in the same period. The number of registered medical personnel rose by 2.6 percent from 59,049 in 2002 to 60,599 in 2003.