Make schools obey fees directive, Government told

The Government has been told to ensure schools implement the school fees guidelines released by Education Cabinet Secretary Jacob Kaimenyi.

Elimu Yetu Coalition Director Janet Muthoni Ouko and an education philanthropist, Raymond Cheruiyot of Rayc Foundation, said the Government should take stern actions against school heads who disobey the directive.

In welcoming the new fees guidelines in which day secondary schools are required to charge a maximum of Sh9,374 and their boarding counterparts Sh53,543 a year, Ms Ouko said the Government must match its words with actions by ensuring the new guidelines are implemented to the letter.

"Parents have been exploited for a long time and the Government must assure parents that it means business by firing and arraigning in court school heads who will defy the new fee guidelines," she said.

The guidelines were adopted from a report by a task force on school fees that was chaired by former Education assistant minister Kilemi Mwiria

Extra money

Cheruiyot said since some parents had already paid the huge sums of money the schools were charging before the release of the guidelines, the extra money should cater for second and third terms fees.

Ouko also asked Kenya National Union of Teachers (Knut) Secretary General Wilson Sossion to support the guidelines since he was part of the Mwiria's taskforce that recommended that school fees be capped at Sh51,000.

Speaking in Soin/Sigowet constituency last week, Sossion urged school heads to ignore Deputy President William Ruto's "roadside directive" on school fees, saying that a huge chunk of the funds goes towards paying teachers hired by the institutions.

Ouko also blamed Sossion for the staffing crisis in the country where schools in Nairobi and other major towns have more teachers than they need while those in the slums and rural areas were grappling with acute shortages.

"We are demanding that the union steps aside and let the Teachers Service Commission to handle teachers staffing matters in the country," she said.

Ouko also called on the Government to address the security concerns raised by teachers working in North Eastern to ensure learning resumes in the area.

"All the stakeholders in the education sector and North Eastern must come up with a lasting solution to the insecurity in the area," she said.