Lawyers, school owners wonder if State has taken over private businesses

The foundations of Kenya’s liberal economy were at the cross-roads on Friday following a government order to close both public and private schools. Legal minds have questioned the legal basis for the drastic action, as owners of academies protest a government take-over of their private enterprises.

The closure of private schools alongside their public counterparts was couched in a revision of schools’ opening and closing dates issued by acting Education Secretary Leah Rotich. Later in the day, the decision was endorsed by the Cabinet under the chairmanship of President Uhuru Kenyatta.

The circular was headlined; Re: Revised term dates for public and private schools, teacher training colleges and technical training institutes – 2015. “They should come out clear and tell us, are they taking over our schools? Are they nationalising private enterprise? Are they rubbing it off us since we are already grossly disadvantaged by their policies but we are still limping on?” Secretary of Kenya Private Schools Alliance Mutheu Kasanga asked yesterday.

Kasanga, who is also the chair of the education docket at the Kenya Private Sector Alliance, said the market repercussions of closing down private schools are “very scary”. She said the Government is now embarrassing itself.

“As we speak, three counties in this country have not had teachers in public schools since the start of the year. We have never pulled out of those counties and we continue to offer learning services independent of the government. Is this how you pay us off?” Kasanga fumed.

She urged private schools to “soldier on” and ignore the directive.

Chief Executive Officer of the Law Society of Kenya Apollo Mboya dismissed the move as “knee-jerk” and one that would “boomerang on the state”.

“If it is aimed at blackmailing the teachers by drawing public ire against their demands, I can assure you it will have the net opposite effect. The move has basically galvanised public anger against the Government and in support of teachers,” Mboya said.

He said parents take their children to private schools because of mismanagement in public schools. He said no parent, pulling all stops to sustain their children in expensive public schools, will tolerate the transfer of mismanagement into private schools.

“It is not that many parents who take their kids to private schools can afford it. They pay through their nose because they cannot stomach mismanagement. To now forcefully transfer this mismanagement into private enterprise is to take the joke too far,” he said. Mboya also wondered about the fate of school fees paid so far: “Is the Government going to compensate parents in private schools, because they have already paid school fees? And where will you stop at, will you close down private hospitals because nurses in public hospitals are on strike?”

Lawyer Mutula Kilonzo Junior described the order as “grossly warped” and called for firing of Education Cabinet Secretary Jacob Kaimenyi with immediate effect. “By closing both public and private schools the Government is extending the crisis to all parents and teachers in Kenya, a crisis they have created. If they hope the crisis will turn to sympathy for them, they are in for a rude shock,”Kilonzo Junior, also the Senator for Makueni County said.

He said the Teachers Service Commission has failed in its obligation to advise the Government on the plight of teachers. He also said Prof Kaimenyi has set the most dubious record in the education docket since independence and ought to go home.

Prof Winnie Mitullah of the University of Nairobi described the close-down as “a very scary issue that might keep many of us awake”. She said what is more worrying is the fact that closing schools does not resolve the situation.

She said the order smacks of a scheme to scare teachers into running back to classrooms but it will not wash. “Teachers have been cheated and ignored by past and current regimes in a manner that requires a long term solution and it seems this is the opportune time,” she said yesterday. Prof Mitullah said Kenyans should support teachers “and encourage them to bear the intended intimidation until their salary increment demand is met”.

She said it is irresponsible for private schools, especially those running on the 844 programme to think they should continue learning when other children are staying at home. She said it is time the issue moved from being a teachers’ issue to a national issue.

Yesterday, Kasanga said private schools are suffering under the heavy yoke of unfair Government policies that inhibit their growth. She complained against the quota system of Form One selection, which leaves only 15 per cent slots for children from private schools.