Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) has sent two officials on a benchmarking study visit to Malawi Revenue Authority (MRA) to appreciate how examinable taxation curricula were successfully implemented in primary and secondary schools in Malawi.

During the benchmarking study tour, Ezekiel Maru and Lucy Munuhe from KRA’s Marketing and Communication Division will visit the Malawi Institute of Education (MIE) which played a key role in incorporating taxation in the school curricula.

The duo will also visit SOS Primary School, Blantyre Girls Primary School, Njamba Secondary School and Blantyre Teacher Training College and hold meetings with officials at MRA Headquarters at Msonkho House. 

During a meeting with Taxpayer Education Department on Monday, 13th March, 2017, Maru said KRA would like to integrate taxation into the curricula of schools and the benchmarking study visit will guide its implementation in Kenya.

“We would like to incorporate taxation into the curricula but we have been having some hurdles. The challenge is that the curricula are congested and there is too much content on other issues like HIV/Aids and corruption,” Maru said.

He said due to congestion, the Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development (KICD) cannot incorporate any more content into the school curricula.

“As a result of this we would like to incorporate taxation content into already existing subjects. For instance we could incorporate taxation issues into a subject like Mathematics,” he said.

MRA embarked on a schools’ programme in 2000 upon its inception and eight years later, in conjunction with MIE, examinable taxation curricula were incorporated in primary and secondary schools.

Taxpayer Education Manager McHizzal Kawanga said MRA introduced the schools programme and incorporated taxation into the school curricula to improve tax education and tax compliance.

“We wanted to inculcate a culture of tax compliance at an early age because we noticed that many people did not have knowledge on taxes. There was low rate of tax registration, increase in cases of tax evasion and smuggling,” Kawanga said.    

He said MRA has been conducting trainer of trainers’ workshops for school curriculum through Primary School Education Advisors (PEAs) and participating in curricula review to promote learning of taxation in schools.

“We make presentations, provide tax materials like brochures, conduct study tours and national essay competitions. We also support schools by providing desks, note books and other learning and teaching materials through our CSR policy. We also provide bursaries to needy and handicapped students to ensure they remain in school,” he said.

Kawanga said in future, MRA plans to introduce a national TV and radio quiz competition on taxation, conducting zonal tax presentations and introduce tax clubs like in Uganda.

BY WADZA OTOMANI