“The Ministry of Education has created the impression that it gives a grant of Sh22,244 per student while the actual remittance to schools in 2018 was Sh16,676. Now it has taken away Sh6,000 for infrastructure development. The remainder is totally inadequate to run schools on,” the Kessha document says.
They want the fees in national or extra county schools in urban areas raised by Sh15,848 to Sh91,646 up from Sh75,798. This means parents will have to pay Sh69,402 up from Sh53,554, while the Government allocation remains unchanged at Sh22,244 for all school categories. At extra-county level in other parts of the country, the principals want the charges raised by Sh17,773 from Sh62,679 to Sh80,452. Parents currently pay Sh40,535. For county schools, heads want to charge Sh70,216 from 62,679. They want the Government to raise its capitation for day schools from Sh22,244 to Sh28,501 per student per year.
Mr Indimuli suggests that schools be allowed to use various vote heads according to their needs since operations and priorities are not homogeneous. “It is common knowledge that schools are experiencing acute teacher shortages and most of them have to hire teachers and other workers who are also paid from the government capitation,” he says. Moreover, the 100 percent primary-to-secondary transition policy has created the need for more school staff such as nurses, security men and cleaners.
“The government has shifted buying of Kiswahili and English set books and Mathematical tables from parents to schools without any additional funding under the free day secondary education programme, further draining the vote heads,” he says. The official adds that a directive that Sh6,000 for maintenance and improvement can only be used with the authority of the county directors of education leaves the boards redundant as regards financial management decisions.