Why capitation is the new lie at Education ministry

Education CS Julius Ogamba has come under pressure over delayed capitation that has nearly crippled schools operations. [File, Standard]

The Ministry of Education on Wednesday, finally released Sh22 billion as capitation for Term Two after weeks of public outcry, broken promises, and agony in schools.

The release comes as a major relief for head teachers who had warned of a possible shutdown of school operations occasioned by the delayed funding.

A notice signed by Education Cabinet Secretary Julius Ogamba indicated that the funds will cater for learners in public primary, junior secondary, and secondary schools.

In the notice Sh1.3 billion will go to Free Primary Education while Junior School will get Sh8.9 billion.

Junior School catering for Special Needs Education will receive Sh118 million.

The lion's share of the funding, Sh11.6 billion will go to secondary schools.

The announcement comes nearly a month after schools reopened, and more than three weeks after Ogamba publicly promised that the funds would be released in the first week of the term.

While the release of the funds signals a critical intervention for schools, it comes amid desperation from school heads and broken promises that have defined the Ministry of Education's capitation programme.

Behind the declarations lies a disturbing pattern of broken promises, delayed disbursements, and a generation of learners caught in the crossfire.

This has left school administrators struggling, parents shouldering extra costs, and children missing meals, books, and basic learning resources.

The capitation, ordinarily meant to be disbursed in tranches-50 per cent in Term One, 30 per cent in Term Two, and 20 per cent in Term Three-has rarely adhered to schedule.

Schools opened on January 6, for Term One but only received the first batch of funds on January 30. The remaining amount trickled in on March 15, just two weeks to the end of the term.

The inconsistent flow has left schools struggling to operate, with many head teachers resorting to borrowing from suppliers, taking loans, or cutting down co-curricular programmes to stay afloat.

Some schools have also opted to charge parents "extra levies" to bridge the gap, putting to question the government's free primary and day secondary education programme.

"This is not just a delay. It's disorganisation and sabotage. You cannot lie to the same people every term and expect things to function. Children are suffering," Janet Muthoni, an educationist said.

Caught in the middle are learners, teachers, and non-teaching staff, most of whom operate in schools that rely purely on government capitation.

The situation has been especially dire in day schools, which cannot legally charge additional fees.

Delayed disbursements have made the government's commitment of a 100 per cent transition a nightmare, while thousands who report to school end up being sent away due to lack of fees.

As a result, the idle and unemployed youth end up engaging in drug abuse, which leads to insecurity as they seek money to quench their thirst.

For girls, the situation is desperate as they drop out and are caught in the crossfire of early marriage, teen pregnancies and child labour.

"We are not just short of money - we are running out of options. We can't feed the kids. We can't buy chalk," a school head in Nairobi told The Standard.

The most recent assurance came on May 1, when Education CS stood before stakeholders at the Inaugural Education Conference in Naivasha and vowed that the funds would be released "by the end of next week."

Three weeks down the line, the capitation funds have yet to hit the school accounts.

The CS's promise would be followed up with another assurance by the Basic Education Principal Secretary, Julius Bitok, "by the end of the week," none of which have materialised.

While appearing before the National Assembly Committee on Education on May 13, Bitok said that the capitation would be released by the end of last week.

The PS reaffirmed the same position on May 15, during the launch of the Kenya Education Management Information System (KEMIS).

While in Naivasha, CS Ogamba defended the delayed capitation saying it was affected by competition for the limited resources and sometimes delay in release of the Exchequer.

"Some of the government-funded programmes, as you already know, are extremely costly. As a result, we have on some occasions lagged behind in the disbursement of capitation funds to schools, owing to competition for resources by various government programmes," he said.

In Term One, the same delay was witnessed. The Ministry promised that capitation would be released as soon as schools reopened.

However, the schools which opened on January 6 had to wait until January 30 before a portion of the capitation, Sh14 billion, for Term One was released.

The remaining portion, Sh15 billion, was released on March 15- two weeks to the close of the term.

"You cannot lie to the same people every term and expect things to function. Children are suffering. This is sabotage from within," Muthoni told The Standard on Tuesday.

Last week, MPs moved to summon the Treasury Principal Secretary over the persistent delays and budget cuts targeting not just capitation, but also KNEC operations and the school feeding programme.

During a meeting with the National Assembly Committee on Education, PS Bitok claimed that his ministry was never consulted on the latest budget cuts affecting learners, throwing the Treasury under the bus.

Kenya Secondary School Heads Association chairman Willy Kuria, said the delayed capitation resulted in some parents in the annual meetings deciding to pay some fees to support the institutions.

"So how are these schools supposed to be operating a month after they reopened if the government has not sent any funds?" Kuria posed.

In other cases, he revealed that schools have had to make the difficult choice of cutting down on some activities to purely concentrate on academics.

This has seen some of the day schools miss out on some co-curricular activities such as games, drama and music festivals.

"When they don't participate in co-curricular activities, it will affect the boarding schools as well, because the boarding schools cannot compete on their own," Kuria said.

Kenya Primary School Heads Association (KEPSHA) Chairman Fuad Ali, said on Saturday that the delayed funds have had a ripple effect across the comprehensive school system- which comprises of primary and Junior Secondary Schools.

"The capitation is affecting not only the junior school, but the entire comprehensive school, because they are housed in the same compound and under one head of institution," Ali told reporters. "So when there is a delay in the capitation, our activities are delayed."

One of the immediate casualties, Fuad revealed has been the payment of salaries for non-teaching staff.

He regretted that the affected staff are struggling to meet their daily needs, with no alternative source of income.

"If we keep them long without receiving the payment, it's affecting their daily lives too, because they are also people with families, and they need to be supported," he said.

Beyond salaries, Ali said schools are unable to pay utility bills-particularly electricity-resulting in frequent power disconnection. The impact of this is far-reaching.

"We use power to pump water, we use power for Wi-Fi, internet services, and then most of the things are done using power. So if power is disconnected, again, it's a big challenge in our institutions," Ali said in a phone interview with The Standard.

He said the delayed disbursement of capitation funds has also affected teacher training programmes for junior school instructors who lack of transport and logistical support.

"These teachers, whenever they are going for any of these trainings, they need to be supported in terms of transport and so forth," he said.

"We just wish, as we had discussed with the ministry last week-and they promised the money would be released by the end of last week-that it is done. But to date, we have not received."

Ali said the Ministry had earlier blamed the delay on a lag in uploading data on the National Education Management Information System (NEMIS), but clarified that the data was now submitted, and the delay could no longer be justified.

National Parents Association(NPA) chairman Silas Obuhatsa also raised fears of schools sending students home over fee balance.

Obuhatsa has called on the government to release the capitation this week to ensure smooth operations in schools.