Schools To Close Earlier Than Expected, Here’s Why

Public primary and secondary schools may close earlier for the second term than August 12, 2023, due to delayed disbursement of capitation funds according to the school head teachers and principals, if the government fails to disburse all the capitation money.
According to the Kenya Secondary Schools Heads Associations Chairman Indimuli Kahi and his primary school’s counterpart Johnson Nzioka, they claim that the government underfunded each student by 5,000 shillings in the 2021/2022 Financial Year and 4,300 shillings per student in the 2022/2023 Financial Year. Each student is entitled to 22,244 shillings per year.
Indimuli Kahi said schools risk losing out on these portions of government funding for free primary education and free day secondary education for a second year in a row.
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He added that these funds should have been deposited before the end of the term. Schools close on August 12 for a three-week period that will end on August 27. This means the institutions have two weeks of teaching, learning, and conducting the end-of-term examinations.
According to Johnson Nzioka, the Kenya Primary Schools Heads Association chairman said schools are struggling to meet their day-to-day operations due to the underfunding of schools by the government.
“One way to avert a crisis will be closing early, to save on some days that we otherwise don’t have funds to meet operations,” he added.
Indimuli insisted that the schools received a capitation of Sh4,150 per student on June 12.
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“We did not receive the full capitation amount in the 2021/22 financial year and we are yet to receive the full amount of the current 2022/23 financial year,” Indimuli said.
“We are in a very delicate situation where schools are headed for the end-of-term exams which need some financing, we also need to pay the non-teaching staff,” he added.
Basic Education Principal Secretary Belio Kipsang however said that all the money had been sent to schools. It is not apparent who is being economical with the truth regarding the capitation.
Education PS was speaking at the Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development (KICD) during the closure of an international curriculum conference, Kipsang said:
“As far as we are concerned we have sent all the money to schools.” In June 2023, Education Cabinet Secretary Ezekiel Mochogu said the government would release the capitation funds after an outburst by school heads.
Machogu said that there was a delay in the disbursement of funds. He said this while answering questions on Wednesday last week from Members of Parliament. He added that he had liaised with Treasury to release the funds but according to Nzioka, schools are still receiving funds meant for the first term.
“The situation is not good at all, we are anxious that some of our school heads could be taken to court for defaulting payments, and we hope that the Ministry of Education will provide us with legal assistance when this happens,” Nzioka said.
“For a couple of years now, the government has not been giving the full allocation to schools. They slice the amount and other funds are retained making it hard to run schools,” Nzioka said.
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