Headteachers have raised the alarm over the dire financial situation in schools and have called on the government to release capitation arrears to alleviate the crisis.
Kenya Secondary Schools Heads Association (Kessha) on Sunday asked National Treasury Cabinet Secretary John Mbadi and his Education counterpart, Julius Ogamba, to release Sh64 billion arrears owed to schools over the last four years.
“The State should release the Sh64 billion backlog of capitation that has been withheld over the last four years so that we can clear debts. Utilities such as water, and electricity have to be paid. We are struggling,” said Kessha National Chairman Willy Kuria.
“We had a deficit of about Sh7,000 per learner by the time we were closing schools in third term last year. Schools are in debt,” Mr Kuria, who is also the Murang’a High School Chief Principal, added.
He said almost all schools have debts ranging from Sh20 million up to Sh70 million, with principals enduring the nightmare of suppliers camping at their offices demanding payments.
Mr Kuria’s call came a day after Mr Mbadi assured school administrators that Term One capitation funds would hit accounts this week to alleviate operational difficulties. He said the delays in releasing the funds to schools before reopening was due to government debt servicing.
“Schools please do not panic, teachers don’t panic, school managers don’t panic. Next week, Treasury will release Sh48 billion which is 50 percent of this year’s budget to fund our education system,” the CS said in Kakamega County.
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 (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 crisis facing schools deepened last week after Controller of the Budget (CoB) Margaret Nyakang'o stopped governors from awarding bursaries to students in primary, secondary and tertiary levels of education.
The county bosses usually set aside millions of shillings in bursaries— an expenditure that the CoB said is irregular as only Early Childhood Development Education is devolved.
The move continues to attract sharp reactions from governors across the political divide, with parents in agony after hundreds of their children were sent home.
Nairobi Governor Johnson Sakaja on Sunday said the directive would hit the education and futures of thousands of students from the slums who depend on the bursaries.
While faulting Dr Nyakang'o, the governor said the suspension of the county government's bursary programme would affect over 124,000 learners in Nairobi, with the majority being from the slums.
“This directive will negatively affect many learners. Over 124,000 students in Nairobi will be affected alongside hundreds of thousands across the country. The CoB ought to have considered the welfare of learners before issuing such a directive,” he said.
Speaking yesterday during a service at Church of Christ in Africa, Mr Sakaja defended county bursaries, stating that they do not infringe on the mandate of the national government in any way.
“We understand the roles of the national government, but it is also our duty as counties to cater for the welfare of our people. Until free education is fully realised at all levels, bursaries remain essential,” he said.
He spoke as parents in Tana River County appealed to Dr Nyakang'o to rescind the decision to abolish county bursary kits. The parents said that the move will kill the dreams of many bright and needy students who rely on such funds.
"This is a fund that has kept more than 7,000 children in school considering that the funds that the government has been providing for bursary have never satisfied the need," said Mohamed Argamso, the chairperson of Pastoralists Parents Association.
Mr Argamso noted that whereas all other bursary funds administered at constituency level have been issued with ethnic bias, only the county bursary has been benefitting the students at the grassroots regardless of their ethnic background.
He further reiterated that the annulment would leave the students vulnerable, leading to an increase in poverty and illiteracy levels.
"We are talking about achieving basic education at the bare minimum. Our incomes cannot even support three meals a day, you can imagine what many families are going to go through," he said.
His sentiments are echoed by Ms Florence Aketch, a parent, who suggested that the directive from the controller of budget should be reviewed.
"The CDF bursary can only manage a few students, that amount is less than Sh30 million, and it only caters for secondary school students who study in local schools. There is another huge chunk that is not catered for," she said.
The administration had proposed to increase the fund to Sh186 million and advance it into a scholarship.
By Winnie Atieno, Kevin Cheruiyot and Stephen Oduor.
