The Mountain Journal
The government is yet to allocate capitation to form one students two months after they were enrolled in secondary schools
The Standard learned that in the two disbursements affected by the Ministry of Education this year, the form one students estimated at 1.2 million countrywide got no allocations towards facilitating the free secondary education.
A source divulged that in the disbursements affected in January and March, the students have been skipped, as the schools population captured in the National Education Management Information System (NEMIS) on November 9,2023 benefitted.
The secondary school principals interviewed said the capitation released per learner amounts of Sh8,319,38 instead of the required Sh11,122.
The capitation of equal amounts of Sh3,877.34 was remitted to the schools accounts in January and March following a national outcry.
A principal who sought anonymity said the amount remitted to school was below the expectation, and that could not pay salaries for the supporting staff engaged by the institutions.
The money was remitted to the schools as the majority had opted to close early to avoid some of the financial challenges, as the parents facilitate some of the educational programmes to keep their children busy.
“ The heads are faced with challenges as the creditors troop in the schools once the government publicise remittance of the capitation.
“ Due to the limited resources many of the business persons have stopped supplying goods to the learning institutions,” said a head from the Rift Valley region.
Another principal from Embu county said the situation was worse in day schools that entirely depend on capitation to run education programmes, as fees collected from the parents was too little.
“Procurement of learning materials is a mirage as the amount allocated to schools is hardly enough to run the schools after the parents were warned against paying extra levies by the politicians,” he said.
Kenya Secondary School Heads Association (Kessha) Acting Chairman Mr Willy Kuria said due to lack of resources to run the schools, the heads were forced to close their institutions early as they have been unable to pay their electricity and water bills..
In the co-curricular activities, Kuria hinted that many of the schools are unable to participate fully as the situation is aggravated by inflation and high consumer prices.
Kuria said the ministry is supposed to release Sh11,122 in January for all the students followed by other disbursements in second and third terms respectively.
www.themountainjournal.co.ke
