Its a very tricky position the Education Ministry is taking on perception of Kenyans who must be tired of hearing new academic hitches daily.
After announcing that the government has distributed 60 million textbooks to public schools and achieved the desired 1:1 textbook to learner ratio for effective teaching and learning, some hearbreaking financial news has followed.
Public schools have been plunged into a financial crisis because the Ministry of Education is yet to release funds for the first term.
School heads, who were expecting to receive the funds at the beginning of the month, are now struggling to pay suppliers, buy stationery and pay salaries for teachers employed by boards next week.
The Kenya Secondary School Heads Association Chairman Kahi Indimuli said Monday that headteachers in public schools are unable to manage the large number of students without funds.
“As at Friday, the funds had not been released… We opened the schools three weeks ago,” he said.
The official said school heads had proposed to the ministry to base the first term’s capitation on last year’s student figures to avoid operational disruptions and then reconcile the budget later but that was not done.
He said day schools were most hurt because they are fully-funded by the government.
“Boarding secondary schools receive some funds from parents and the tuition fees from the government,” he said, adding that the funds crunch meant that the institutions cannot do repairs, buy learning materials, pay for water and electricity as well as cater for day-to-day operations.
Education Principal Secretary Belio Kipsang in October wrote to regional and county directors pledging to have the funds sent to schools in December.