Plans to hike school fees to fund projects misadvised

Education Cabinet Secretary George Magoha has allowed secondary school principals to increase school fees to cater for infrastructural deficiency in the institutions.

This is regrettable because many parents are already overburdened by the high cost of living. Food prices are up; the cost of housing is mind-boggling not to mention high taxes.

Since the introduction of 100 per cent transition from primary to secondary schools last year, virtually all secondary schools have been characterised by lack of teachers, poorly equipped laboratories, congested dormitories, insufficient classrooms and inadequate dining hall space.

As the saying goes, if you fail to plan, you are planning to fail. The government has been singing the chorus of 100 per cent transition without proper understanding of the reality on the ground. No wonder the transition has become another public relations stint. Political interference in education has been our greatest undoing.

Prof Magoha’s proposal for parents to dig deeper into their pockets to finance school infrastructure development is not the solution to bloated enrolment.

Most parents are hard-pressed by a plethora of taxes and levies from national and county governments. In fact, they are operating on shoestring budgets.

At the same time, others are already being charged exorbitant infrastructure development by national, extra-county and county secondary schools.

It is just a matter of time before the perennial problem of bright students who are financially disadvantaged missing an opportunity to join secondary school due to exorbitant fees.

It is high time the Ministry of Education stopped the irregular disbursement of free learning monies.

The government must wake up and realise that it is time to carry its own cross. 

Joseph G. Muthama, Kiambu