It’s only four days since the resumption of schools for the second term yet more than half of the students have been sent home for school fees by the school heads.
Principals from various schools across the country have been put on the spot over allegations of extorting parents by leveling unwarranted charges as learning resumes.
The National Parents Association Chairman, Nicholas Maiyo questioned the legality of the extra fees being charged.
“The information we have received is that the principals are devising new ways of extorting parents. Our main concern is the legality of the procedure of how the money is paid. Mostly, the amount is not used in assisting our kids”, said Mr. Maiyo.
According to Maiyo, so far they have received 54 fee structures from various schools across the country which were all different from the initial ones issued.
“Our main concern is the way principals take money from us, it is not right. You cannot pay for something which you don’t know how it’ll be used, this is outright theft”, he added.
He further noted that these days kids are always on the road because they are being sent home stating that this specifically affects primary and boarding schools
Just before the reopening date, Cabinet Secretay for education prof George Magoha clearly stated and gave an order for the school heads not to send students home but engage in peaceful negotiation talks with the parents.
This, however, seems to have fallen to rock because students in uniform are all over the place going back for school fees.
Maiyo has called upon the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) to take immediate action on the school heads found culpable.
Hiking of school fees by the school heads has now become a matter of concern to most parents who have now threatened to take legal actions against school heads that have become adamant to follow the directives given by the ministry of education.
A section of the school heads had earlier complained of the inadequate funds to run their institutions and pointed out that schools had to go to extreme lengths to fund the institutions.
The Ministry of Education recently released Ksh17 billion as a second-term capitation for learners to cater to both primary and secondary schools. Out of this amount, Ksh2.62 billion went to primary schools, while Ksh14.85 billion was allocated to secondary schools.