Congestion Fears As Form Ones Beging Reporting to Schools
Starting today, some 1.2 million Form One students will report to their schools in Kenya, despite a congestion crisis caused by the government’s 100% transition policy.
Some school principals are reporting that the number of students placed in their schools is beyond their capacity, especially in public boarding institutions, which are facing an accommodation nightmare.
Principals are calling on the government to urgently release capitation funds for the first term.
An example of the crisis is Mama Ngina Girls High School, the only girls’ national school in Mombasa County, which has a capacity of 200 but has been allocated 288 students.
The principal of the school, Mwanamisi Omar, stated that the school will likely have to deal with congestion, as the number of students may increase.
However, Omar also confirmed that the school will be relocated to a bigger piece of land in Shimo la Tewa this year.
Former President Uhuru Kenyatta allocated Sh100 million to relocate the national school to a 20-acre piece of land in Shimo la Tewa.
The plan was to have the school relocated by January 2019 to accommodate more than 1,200 girls, including day scholars, but the relocation has been frustrated by the lack of a perimeter wall.
At Bura Girls High School, 288 students have been placed against a capacity of 184, and the school is currently waiting for the students to report before making any decisions.
An official at the school stated that the school will grapple with congestion, as it is financially constrained, with many parents not paying due to the hard economic times and some losing their jobs.
The National Parents Association Chairperson, Silas Obuhatsa, called on the government to put up infrastructure to deal with the congestion in schools.
He also urged principals to adhere to the school fees guidelines issued by the Ministry of Education last month.
Public secondary school fees are capped at Sh53,554, while the ceiling for county and extra-county schools is Sh40,555.
Last month, Education Cabinet Secretary Ezekiel Machogu stated that the government will maintain its capitation per student in all public secondary schools at Sh22,244 and urged parents to report any incidents of students being turned away for not paying higher fees to the nearest education office for action.
Obuhatsa stated that students should not be sent home due to a lack of accommodation and urged the boards of management to find a mechanism to address the congestion.
He also called on principals to tell the government the number of children they have admitted, the number of beds and dormitories against what they lack, and to provide the statistics.
Congestion Fears As Form Ones Beging Reporting to Schools
