The Mountain Journal
There is an outcry in secondary schools upon revelation that the government remitted Sh 4,766 per student in the capitation, for second term, instead of the expected Sh 6,720 (30 percent).
In the Sh 23.4 billion remittance, the secondary school principals say they expected more resources to cover the previous arrears that have placed the institutions in bad debts with the suppliers.
In the National Budget, each student in secondary school is allocated Sh 22,400 annually.
The heads who spoke on anonymity said it was disheartening that in the first term the government remitted Sh 7,400 out of the expected Sh 11,200, (50 percent).
It emerged that the capitation remittance was based on the last year’s students population data captured in November, that excluded Grade 10 learners who joined the senior schools in the first term.
The heads in the counties of Murang’a, Nyeri, Laikipia, and Bungoma lamented that the government has failed to remit accurate capitation based on the number of the learners.
They revealed the likelihood of the shutdown of NEMIS since November last year, thus incapacitating the school administrations to update the number of the learners in their respective institutions.
“ In my school we have established that the data used to channel the capitation is that of the third term last year, as there are over 300 grade 10 learners,” said one of the heads in Murang’a.
In Laikipia, the heads said the amount sent was too little to cover the tuition programme, thus the need for the increase of the allocation per student to Sh 30,000 based on cost of living.
“ The schools have huge debts amounting to millions of shillings following the failure by the Ministry to remit all the monies at the end of the year to ease the challenges,” said one of the heads in Laikipia.
The heads alleged that the NEMIS stopped operating in November last year, and they were unable to upload the first term receipts.
Education Principal Secretary Prof Julius Bitok on April 1, ordered that the capitation receipts must be uploaded in the NEMIS system two weeks after the receipt of the allocation into the school accounts.
He warned that failure to upload the receipts will lead to suspension of remittance of further grants.“County Directors of Education must authenticate and monitor the accuracy of enrolment data of their schools,” read part of the circular from the PS.
