The education future of some students at St Mary’s Girls High School, Igoji, hangs in the balance over a Sh44 million debt owed by the institution to a local bank.

Dozens of students, who are each supposed to contribute Sh44,000 in two years to clear the loan, were on the weekend reportedly sent away from the school in South Imenti.

The school is said to have obtained the loan from the commercial bank to fund construction of a one-storey dormitory seven years ago and parents have been asked to contribute towards offsetting the debt.

John Kireria, a parent of two students in Form Four and Form Three, said they were in agreement that the parents will contribute the monies to settle the loan, but a section of parents were hesitant.

He said the dormitory "was actually there" and the Ministry of Education had okayed it.

School principal Petronillah Mulwa was away from the school which turned away journalists while the deputy principal Ms Kinyua pleaded not to comment on the matter.

Yesterday a section of students who were sent home on Saturday reported back, with some of their parents angered at the debt 'they knew nothing about'.

“When I enrolled my daughter I was not told anything about this loan. Had I known I would have taken her elsewhere because I am just a peasant," a parent of a Form One student said.

The parent said last week he paid fees for his daughter, but the administration, "diverted it to the loan account," automatically placing him on the fees arrears list.

“A section of parents seem to have approved the idea, but majority of us were for a harambee given our financial struggles,” he said.

A Form Two student who lives in Nairobi, but reported to the school yesterday said her parents feared she might drop out of school due to the dormitory fees.

“They sent us home even without telling our parents. My parents were surprised to see me home,” she said. 

Imenti South MP Kathuri Murungi said the Ministry of Education had established that work was done and that it was ‘value for money’.

He added that the Parents Teachers Association and the school board had approved the bank loan.

He, however, said his constituency development fund kitty was "financially constrained" to help matters.