Private school owners threaten to seek Sh48 billion damages

Education Cabinet Secretary Jacob Kaimenyi address journalists at his office.

Owners of private schools yesterday said they would go to court to stop the Government from closing their institutions and assured parents that the institutions would remain open.

They said they would incur losses amounting to Sh48 billion if the schools were closed as directed by Education Cabinet Secretary Jacob Kaimenyi.

Kenya Private Schools Association chairman Peter Ndoro said they would demand compensation for any loses incurred as a result of the directive even as CORD leaders informed the police that they would be holding a protest rally in Nairobi on Tuesday over the payment of teachers.

“Where will the gGovernment get Sh48 billion to pay private schools for the loses if they cannot raise Sh17 billion to pay what the teachers in public schools are demanding?” asked Ndoro.

Owners of private schools in Narok County, led by their chairperson Magret Koileken, said they would not close their schools by tomorrow as directed by the CS because they had not been consulted nor is the Government involved in the running of the schools.

Koileken said private schools are private entities and know their terms of engagement with the parents, pupils and their teachers.

“We are shocked by the directive and we totally condemn it because there is no support we get from the Government,” she stated.

The school owners maintained that they were not affected by the ongoing teachers’ strike because their teachers are not paid by the Government and have not been on strike.

“If the Government increases salaries that the striking teachers are agitating for, how will our teachers benefit?” posed Koileken.

The school owners also demanded an explanation from Kaimenyi on why they were being told to close their institutions.

“The Government should so give us a reasonable answer as to why they want us close. We read this as part of the marginalisation that we have faced from the ministry,” said Koileken.

She accused the CS of running the Education ministry as a one-man show and failing to consult other major stakeholders.

“We do not receive any subsidy from the free primary education funds. Our pupils are also made to pay for examination yet the Government said they were free, and our teachers have not benefited from government-sponsored trainings such as SMASSE (Strengthening Mathematics and Science in Secondary Education),” said Koileken.

She warned that most proprietors had taken bank loans and any closure of the schools would mean failure to service the loans.

“We shall not close because if we do so then it means our schools, which we have invested a lot in, will be auctioned,” she stated.

The school owners supported the move by the National Association of Private Schools to seek legal recourse, terming the directive on closure of public and private schools as ‘not well thought out.

Continued learning

A statement from national chairman Mwai Wangai to all proprietors of private schools said they had decided to continue teaching and learning as usual.

“In the mean time, we are preparing to move to court on Monday to quash the decision of the ministry to close private schools due to the effect of the strike. We call upon all members to support the association in its pursuit of justice for private schools,’” read the message.

However, in Trans Nzoia County, private schools heeded the order and sent students back home, as did the public schools, where only Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education exam candidates remained to carry on with revision.

Private institutions said they were going to lose millions of shillings following the closure order. Most proprietors interviewed said they had purchased food and learning materials for the term and would have to pay teachers for work not done.

Suppliers of public schools also protested teh Government’s failure to end the teachers’ strike.

“I expected to be paid what I’m owed by the school that I supplied with foodstuffs last term and now I cannot be paid because of the strike,” protested a supplier.

—Additional reporting by Osinde Obare