Cash crunch: Principals send students home for fees a week after opening
Secondary school students look for transport back home in the streets of Eldoret town on May 4, 2024.
Barely a week after schools reopened for the 2025 term one, principals have begun sending learners home due to lack of capitation.
Kenya Secondary Schools Heads Association (Kessha) officials, led by the National Chairman Willy Kuria, on Sunday, said the school administrators have been pushed to the wall with no alternative but to send the students home.
“We have begun sending children home because we have no choice. Principals are very desperate, what will those students eat while in school? The only alternative and safer thing to do is to send the learners home. It's unsafe to keep children in school without resources,” said Mr Kuria.
Some schools began sending learners home on Friday due to lack of funds.
“We were not given enough capitation last year, there was a deficit of Sh7,000 per student…And every other year there has been a deficit of a similar amount. For five years now, the capitation balance is over Sh64 billion, which means there is an accrued debt in schools,” he said.
Mr Kuria, who is also the Murang’a High School chief principal, said as schools closed for third term last year (2024), the institutions had not paid workers including the Board of Management Teachers due to lack of funds.
For instance, Muranga High School with a population of 1,800 has a debt of Sh20 million including electricity, water, and stationery among other supplies.
“We have debts with suppliers which keep soaring because we pay in bits due to financial challenges. We have always been paying these debts when Form One students report to school. But with no capitation and the uncertainty surrounding it, when shall we pay last year’s salary arrears?” he said.
Form One admission
Mr Kuria said the situation was dire due to the lack of Form One admissions as the old 8-4-4 system in primary schools was being phased out in favour of the Competency-Based Curriculum (CBC).
In 2024, there were no Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) candidates, meaning there was no Form One intake this year. The last KCPE cohort is currently in Form 2.
The 8-4-4 system was introduced in January 1985 to provide eight years of primary education, four years of secondary education, and another four years of university education. In contrast, the CBC which is a skills-based approach follows a 2-6-3-3-3 model.
Secondary schools are grappling with financial challenges due to lack of new admissions.
“Boarding schools normally rely on Form One admissions but due to the phasing out of 8-4-4, the institutions are facing financial challenges. This is an emergency because suppliers cannot supply us," he added.
He said day schools are the worst hit because they rely purely on capitation to pay BOM teachers and other non-teaching staff.
According to the chief principal, some schools have had their electricity and water supply disconnected due to huge bills.
Mr Kuria is scared that BoM teachers might refuse to teach due to salary arrears.
Capitation funds
He said some parents were rushing to their institutions saying they did not have the money to pay fees because of the tough economic times.
Last term, the association met education officials led by Education Cabinet Secretary Julius Ogamba to discuss the piling debts in learning institutions.
“He received us very well but he could not give us specific answers as far as capitation is concerned,” added Mr Kuria.
The Ministry of Education has yet to disburse capitation funds. But in an interview with Nation.Africa, Dr Kipsang assured head teachers and principals that capitation funds would be disbursed soon.
Dr Kipsang said the ministry is processing the capitation funds after engaging with the National Treasury.
“As from next week, we shall start processing capitation funds for primary, Junior School and secondary schools so that we do not create any difficulties when they start the year,” added the PS.
CS Ogamba also assured education stakeholders that the funds would be disbursed on time.
The CS said the government is committed to its constitutional duty of providing free and compulsory basic education to every child in public schools.
“In this connection, the Ministry will disburse Sh48,379,800,028.32, being 50 per cent of the capitation due to schools this Academic Year,” said the CS.
The capitation will be disbursed as Free Primary Education - Sh4,127,304,081.00, Free Day Junior School Education Sh15,327,846,478.60 and, Free Day Secondary School Education getting Sh28,924,649,468.76.
In Term Two, schools will receive 30 per cent of the capitation, while the balance of 20 per cent will be disbursed in Term Three.
The National Parents Association, chairman Silas Obuhatsa urged schools not to send learners home due to financial challenges facing parents.
