Schools in financial ruin as government fails to release full capitation

Education CS Ezekiel Machogu. [File, Standard]

Secondary schools have been forced to take extreme measures to cut costs after the government failed to release the full capitation in the year.

School heads are now skipping some educational programmes and changing school diets to enable them to manage the schools' daily resources as they evade suppliers over unpaid fees running into millions.

As the academic year ends, The Standard learnt that the Ministry of Education has only remitted a total of Sh11,892.14 per student and left with a balance of Sh10,351.86 for this year.

The amount was remitted (53.46 per cent) in three tranches, with the first on January 26, the second on June 14 and the third on September 25.

Several heads interviewed said the County Directors of Education had warned them against speaking to the media on the government's failure to remit capitation.

The schools have huge debts owed to suppliers, unpaid workers' salaries, and insufficient laboratory chemicals, among other challenges.

"The situation is pathetic, and the heads have been warned against talking to the media as we are asked to be innovative," said one of the school principals.

Across the Central region, teachers interviewed expressed displeasure over the conduct of the Ministry in withholding the students' capitation.

"We have reached the political leaders to help in pressurizing the government to release the money to ease the management burden. By next year, most of the schools will be sued by the suppliers over non-payment," said a School principal from Meru County.

The heads, owing to the failure of the government to honour its pledge, have been forced to adjust the schools' budget, looking for new suppliers and sending the students home to collect the fees balances.

A spot check revealed that day schools where students rely on bursary programmes are highly affected as most learners sent home to collect fee balances fail to return to school.

A school in Murang'a has been forced to stop buying rice and milk for the learners as an initiative to reduce cost, with the administration concentrating on procurement of academic-related materials.

The boarding schools in the Mt Kenya region have been forced to increase fees between Sh10,000 and Sh20,000 to help maintain the learners in schools following the increased cost of living.

Kenya Secondary Schools Heads Association (KESSHA) National Secretary Willy Kuria said the schools are in debt crises, with suppliers avoiding school contracts.

The management of schools, he said, is hectic owing to lack of finances, as the candidates are waiting to sit for their national examination.

"There are inadequate learning facilities that include stationery and laboratory chemicals, and we have workers with low morale," said Kuria, Principal at Murang'a High School.