Form Ones begin reporting amid congestion fears
Parents and guardians and their children were busy doing last-minute shopping in Gikomba, Nairobi on February 5, 2023, with Form One students expected to start reporting to their new schools today.
Some 1.2 million Form One students will from today report to their respective schools amid a congestion crisis as the government enforces the 100 per cent transition policy.
Some principals say the number of students placed in their schools is beyond their capacity, and the congestion crisis is especially worse in public boarding institutions that face an accommodation nightmare.
The principals also want the government to urgently release capitation funds for the first term.
As a pointer to the crisis, Mama Ngina Girls High School, the only girl’s national school in Mombasa County, has a capacity of 200 but has been allocated 288 students.
“We will be grappling with congestion because our capacity is 200 but we have been given 288 students and most likely the number will increase. We will have five streams or more,” said the principal Mwanamisi Omar.
However, Ms Omar who is also the Kenya Secondary School Heads Association (Kessha) Mombasa official, also confirmed that the school will relocate to bigger land in the Shimo la Tewa this year.
Established in 1988 as a public double streamed boarding school, the school sits on less than an acre at Kizingo in Mombasa town and lacks a playground.
Former President Uhuru Kenyatta’s government allocated Sh100 million to relocate the national school to a 20-acre piece of land in Shimo la Tewa.
The plan was to have the school relocated by January 2019 to accommodate more than 1,200 girls including day scholars. But the relocation has been frustrated due to the lack of a perimeter wall.
At Bura Girls High school, 288 students have been placed against a capacity of 184. A source at the school said they are waiting for the students to report to see what to do.
“But we will grapple with congestion. We are also financially constrained because parents are not paying due to the hard economic times and others lost their jobs. Three-quarters of the continuing students reported with no fees, not a single cent for the term,” said an official. “Going by other years, this year will be worse. We are waiting for the capitation, hoping it will come on time to assist.”
Infrastructure
The National Parents Association chairperson Silas Obuhatsa urged the government to put up infrastructure to deal with congestion in schools. He also asked principals to adhere to the school fees guidelines issued by the Ministry of Education last month.
Public secondary school fees are capped at Sh53,554 while the ceiling for county and extra-county schools is Sh40,555.
Last month Education Cabinet Secretary Ezekiel Machogu said the government will maintain its capitation per student in all public secondary schools at Sh22,244. He urged parents to report incidents of any students turned away for not paying higher fees to the nearest education office for action.
“Parents whose children are enrolled in public day secondary schools should not be charged any fees because the government is catering for all the tuition costs amounting to Sh22,244. I also wish to challenge parents and guardians to take up their obligations through prompt payment of school fees in boarding schools,” said the CS.
“As parents, we believe the government has made all arrangements and ensured the capitation is in schools so that when the students report, principals will not complain about financial constraints. It has been very tough for the government and the parents as well because of the transition to junior secondary school which came at a cost,” said Mr Obuhatsa.
On the congestion, Mr Obuhatsa said students should not be sent home due to lack of accommodation. He urged the boards of management to find a mechanism to address congestion.
“We don’t want our children to be out of school. Principals of boarding schools should not sit and wait for the day of admission, point it out earlier. Principals should tell the government the number of children they have admitted, the number of beds and dormitories against what they lack, we need the statistics,” he added.
