Next week, the government will start keeping track of and evaluating the comprehensive medical insurance coverage for secondary school pupils (EduAfya) and student biometric registration.
The State Department of Early Learning and Basic Education of the Ministry of Education stated in a note to County directors of education and Principals that it will begin the monitoring and assessment in collaboration with the National Hospital Insurance Fund (NHIF).
Beginning on August 29, 2022, biometric registration will take place; monitoring and evaluation will follow on September 5, 2022.
The National Education Management Information System (NEMIS) Managers, Secondary School Principals, Chairpersons of Parent Associations, County Directors, and finally Health Care Providers are the stakeholders that the Ministry is targeting.
As part of the “Big-Four” Agenda, the government launched the Eduafya health initiative for students in public secondary schools nationwide in 2018.
It was put in place to make it easier for students to get high-quality medical care while reducing the burden on parents and guardians.
The Ministry typically keeps Ksh1,350 of the Ksh2,000 total medical vote head allocation to pay for medical coverage under the five-year agreement between the Ministry and NHIF, with the remaining Ksh650 going to the schools to cover additional medical and insurance-related costs.
According to research by the Institute of Development Studies (IDS) at the University of Nairobi, the main obstacle for students using the School EduAfya program to get health treatments was a lack of theOther difficulties were the teens’ limited input into the EduAfya program’s creation and a dearth of information about it.
