12 teachers arrested in crackdown on illegal holiday tuition

Teachers caught conducting illegal tuition at St. Annes Ahero primary school in Kisumu county await in police vehicle after they were nabbed on November 14,2016. The thirteen teachers were nabbed after Education PS Belio Kipsang' made an impromptu visit to the school after supervising the start of the second paper at the neighboring Ahero Girls. The suspects will be arraigned in Nyando Law courts tomorrow.(Photo: Denish Ochieng/ Standard)

Twelve teachers have been arrested for allegedly giving tuition illegally at St Anne's Ahero Primary School.

According to police, the teachers were busted by Education Principal Secretary Belio Kipsang. The school's deputy head teacher, Fredrick Owaga, was accused of supervising the illegal lessons and has since been interdicted.

Police are looking for one teacher who was allegedly acting as the cashier. The teacher dodged a police dragnet, leaving behind an unknown amount of money.

The students, who were not dressed in uniform, were required to pay Sh800 each for the three-week classes.

Mr Kipsang was on his way to Kisumu from Kisii where he had supervised the start of the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education examinations, when he made the discovery.

When he talked to the students, he was told they were having holiday classes. He went into the institution through the back gate and his team rounded up the teachers before he called the police. He released the learners to go back home.

The head teacher was said to be away marking the Kenya Certificate of Primary Education examinations. But the PS insisted that he could also be interdicted if he did not explain satisfactorily why he allowed the tuition to take place.

The Government banned holiday tuition several years ago.

"I was attracted by the number of students coming from the school in civilian clothes. When I checked, I found pupils being taught," said Kipsang.

EDUCATION ACT

He said four of the classrooms were filled with 200 primary school pupils while the other two classes were occupied by Form Two and Three students drawn from different schools in the area.

"Holiday tuition is illegal in all schools and anyone found conducting it will be answerable and shall have broken the Basic Education Act. The Ministry of Education will use all its instruments at the Ministry of Interior to curb ongoing tuition in schools," he added.

Kipsang said many schools had been secretly organising holiday tuition, with teachers using the opportunity to extort parents.

He warned parents against sending their children to schools offering holiday tuition, saying action would be taken against them.

"Holidays are factored in the learning system to give pupils time to rest and play, and this must be respected by all. In fact, when I released the children they were happy, showing that most of them had been forced to attend the classes," he said.

Eleven of the teachers arrested defended themselves, saying they were college students and Form Four leavers who had come together to offer children in the area tuition.

Regional Director of Education Richard Chepkawai said his team would beef up operations to ensure that nobody was involved in holiday tuition.

"The law is clear and we must adhere to it," he said.