A teacher in Muhoroni sub-county is in trouble for allegedly collecting examination fees from pupils.
Ministry of Education and Teachers Service Commission (TSC) officials on Tuesday stormed Nyang'oma Primary School after the school's head teacher reportedly sent candidates home over Sh1,790, which she claimed was meant for examination enrollment.
The teacher had been transferred from the school but was yet to report to her new station.
The officials said the teacher may be arrested and prosecuted for disobeying a Government policy on national examinations.
They said all school heads have been briefed against collecting money from parents for KCPE examination.
On Tuesday, the head teacher and her deputy allegedly addressed the candidates and released them to go home and get the money before they could be allowed back to class, irrespective of the Government directive banning illegal fees.
Muhoroni Sub-County Director of Education Julius Orina said he met the pupils loitering along the Ahero-Awasi road and interrogated them.
"I personally met eight pupils along the road and inquired from them why they were out of school. They said they had been sent home over school fees, and I decided to accompany them back to school," said Orina.
He later led a team of other ministry officials, where they grilled the head teacher and her deputy over the allegations for close to two hours.
The teacher was directed to refund all the money already collected from the parents, and present a report, indicating the names and signatures of the parents.
As tension was building among parents outside the school compound, Mr Orina presided over a hasty handing over to the new head teacher.
The parents accused the head teacher of implementing illegal fees without consulting them, saying the situation had led to some pupils dropping out of school, or transferring to other schools.
Parents, Teachers Association chairman Mary Goreti said she was not aware of the genesis of the matter.
"It is in the public domain that the Government is paying national examination fees for all candidates in public and private schools. I am unaware of the new charges, as I was not part of the meeting which discussed it," said Ms Goreti.
She added: "I was in some meeting in Ahero when I got information that pupils had been sent home. So many parents called to inquire about it but I directed them to the head teacher because I was not aware of anything."
Neither the head teacher nor her deputy responded to media queries. They instead directed all the concerns to ministry officials.
"I do not speak for my bosses. I respect them very much, so any information you need from me, you can get from them," said the head teacher.
