School Principals Warned On Fees Balances

Education Cabinet Secretary, George Magoha has instructed school heads to refrain from turning away students with fee balances even as schools reopen on Tuesday.

Magoha said the government has disbursed capitation funds to primary and secondary schools adding that the funds will be in schools by the end of the week.

Speaking to the press during the groundbreaking ceremony for Competency-Based Curriculum (CBC) classrooms at Kereri Girls on the outskirts of Kisii town, the CS noted that the capitation funds are valuable and school managers should be able to utilise the funds effectively.

“Day schools are 75% of the schools and everything has been paid. There is no way the government can increase the capitation money at this stage in life when we are already giving 25.9% of the budget to the children,” he said.

While acknowledging the rising cost of living, Prof Magoha encouraged parents to take their children back to school and pay as much fees as they can.

The CS noted the government has imported maize to cushion schools against the increased cost of maize and told politicians to avoid politicising the matter.

He thanked the teachers for ensuring that learning was not disrupted during the Covid-19 period and encouraged them to continue supporting the children’s learning.

Prof Magoha pointed out that the upcoming General Election should not be a catalyst for causing instability in schools because the school calendar was greatly affected by Covid-19.

In terms of the CBC classrooms, the CS said the groundbreaking for the second phase of the construction had begun and the Ministry is committed to delivering 10,000 CBC classrooms before the next government takes office.

“We are also working together with private schools, more so in the urban areas in Nairobi where we have registered over 100 schools that have already converted their primary schools into junior secondary schools,” said Magoha.

He added that the next government has a duty to ensure children have classrooms to continue learning, and therefore, they are expected to continue building more classrooms.

The CS noted that CBC is an immediate deliverable to the child by the Ministry of Education because they are anticipating a double intake in January and as such, they have to ensure the physical structures are put in place.

During the visit to Kisii, Prof Magoha also issued 1282 title deeds to Kisii residents adding that the recipients are elderly and as such, the title deeds ought to be distributed at the sub-county level.

In addition, he noted that the Ministry of Lands had improved the processes of issuing title deeds by ensuring that all the lands are listed in a Geographic Information System.

The CS pointed out that there has been land encroachment in schools, especially within Kisii County and the Ministry of Lands had begun recalling the titles and issuing new ones to ensure that every school has its own title deed.