School Heads Seek To Raise School Fees By Sh16,000.Headteachers want to raise secondary school costs by Sh8, 000, which will enrage parents who are already straining to pay fees four times a year due to a crazed academic schedule.Last year and this year, the academic calendar includes four school terms instead of the typical three, and the increase proposed by principals in a formal appeal to the Ministry of Education would virtually eliminate a subsidy provided by the government to help parents during the Covid-19 outbreak.The principals also want the government to increase FDSE capitation in order to pull the cash-strapped institutions out of severe indebtedness.The principals, who gathered in Mombasa under the auspices of the Kenya Secondary Schools Heads Association (Kessha), stated that the additional funds will relieve schools of extreme financial hardship.The school heads suggested in a memorandum to the Ministry of Education that boarding secondary school fees be increased by Sh8,000 and government capitation be increased to around Sh30,000 per learner yearly, up from the current Sh22,244 granted each learner.While introducing the price increase motion, Kabianga Boys High School Chief Principal Joash Aloo stated that some parents were failing to play their part in fee payment.“Parents must realise that we don’t live in utopia. The inflation in the country has affected the cost of many items including food and if their children have to be maintained in a boarding school, then they must pay for the services offered. To run schools effectively, we need more funding,” said Dr Oloo.Principals who talked to the Nation stated the government’s policy of not paying for pupils above the age of 18 had exacerbated the situation. They stated that after a pupil reaches the age of majority, their identities are erased from the National Education Management Information System (Nemis).Mr Indimuli stated that many learning institutions, particularly sub-county and county schools, lack scientific labs, which has hampered performance.Read more: Form One – Parents scrambling for transfers“In most cases, school heads have to present for national exams students who have no prior knowledge of the items in the laboratories,” he said.The principals also urged that pupils be required to purchase reference materials such as Bibles, Korans, mathematics sets, atlases, dictionaries, and kamusi.School Heads Seek To Raise School Fees By Sh16,000
