Schools Resume Amid High Cost Of Living
Monday was a bustling day many towns as schools reopened after a long break due to a reformed covid-19-inspired calendar that saw students attend for four consecutive terms in the previous education year.
Education PS Belio Kipsang stated on Friday in Nairobi, during the release of the 2022 KCSE results, that the school calendar would return to normal prior to the reopening of schools on Monday, September 23.
Parents and children were observed on Monday morning shopping in crowded supermarkets and bookstores for personal things and school supplies.
At the bus stations, there was a scramble for seats on public transportation, with boda boda drivers carrying students from various rural houses into the town.
Julius Korir, a resident of Bomet, Mogogosiek village in the Konoin sub-county, stated in an interview with KNA that parents are struggling to send their children back to school due to the financial difficulties.
Korir pleaded with the government to review and reduce tuition fees in public institutions to give priority to lowering the cost of life, stating that he was compelled to sell his cows to look for his four children’s secondary school fees at various schools across the county.
“There is no money at all. Everything is very expensive and yet the prices of our agricultural products have remained the same,” he said.
“On Saturday at Mulot market, I was forced to sell my only two cows at a measly Sh 40, 000. I had no option. We used to rely on maize crops and beans in this region but since the onset of lethal necrosis disease in 2012, production has remained dismal and unpredictable”.
As for Mercy Chemutai of Bomet town, the school adjusted calendar will be a relief for her when it comes to paying school fees for her three children three times every year, as opposed to the former timetable, which was a strain.
Ms. Chemutai, a mama mboga, stated that her vegetable sales at the Bomet market were insufficient to cover the funds of her children’s education. She begged the government to intervene and make primary and secondary education free.
“What mama mboga like me, who are making the bigger population of this country are urging our government is to make education free at all levels, living cost is ever skyrocketing daily, how are we going to meet the cost of education for our children?
She expressed optimism that she will be able to pay her children’s school fees with grants provided by the national government and the county.
In order to ensure parents and the general population of the country, she is pleading with the government to rein in the increasing cost of basic goods.
Kenyans Decry High Cost Of Living As Schools Reopen
