Radical proposals have been made to enhance accountability of free education funds.
Students will be required to sign for their school fees and get receipts immediately the cash is sent to schools.
Director for Secondary and Tertiary Education, Robert Masese, made the revelation on Wednesday, to secondary school head teachers gathering in Mombasa.
Class teachers on the other hand will be required to prepare a form list and sign against it in a radical shift to enhance accountability in schools.
The school accountant will then receive the entire school list and prepare receipts for all students to show that the intended persons received the monies sent.
Masese said the circular to this effect would be released soon to all the heads. Sources at the ministry told The Standard that the circular has been sent to education PS George Godia’s office for approval.
The announcement, however, sparked sharp reactions from the 6,000 teachers terming it a tedious and unnecessary exercise that may not be practical at all.
But Masese maintained that the method proposed is the standard practice of accountability across the world. The proposal comes barely weeks after the Ministry of Education and that of Finance announced major audit on free education cash in all public schools.
Finance minister Njeru Githae said there could be ‘ghost’ learners as some school heads could be furnishing the ministry with wrong statistics of learners in their institutions for funding. He also said some head teachers could be involved in a major syndicate to siphon funds meant for textbooks.
Crackdown
As a result, Mr Githae and his Education counterpart Mutula Kilonzo announced that a major crackdown has already been launched in all schools. “We are setting up modalities of reporting and continuous audit to ensure resources benefit the intended beneficiaries,” said Kilonzo.
