Secondary school Principals have been caught up in arms after the Ministry of Education (MoE) delayed disbursement of the second tranche of Term One capitation as they are further not required to send the students with fee arrears home.
A good number of Principals who spoke to Education News expressed frustration in running the daily affairs of their schools considering that the Ministry hasn’t honoured its earlier promise of disbursing the remaining balance which was expected to reach schools towards end of February.
Kenya Secondary School Heads Association (KESSHA) National Chairman Willie Kuria who is also the Principal of Murang’a High School acknowledged the challenges head of schools are currently undergoing adding that the hardest hit are day secondary schools which wholly depend on Government capitation.
Kuria added that he has talked with Basic Education Principal Secretary Dr. Belio Kipsang regarding the same and who him that the second tranche maybe disbursed this week, revealing that even suppliers have lost trust in schools due to the funding delays.
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The Ministry’s Director of Secondary Education Paul Kibet had earlier on told the Principals that the Term One capitation will be released in two equal tranches after uproar broke among the school bosses when the Government asked them to account what they said had not received.
According to a Circular released by the MoE dated January 17, 2024 and signed by Kipsang’, the total amount for First Term released per learner was indicated to be KSh8, 319.68 with the Principals stating that they had only received almost half of the capitation.
The Principals concerns comes after the Ministry released yet another Circular showing the Guidelines on the implementation of Free Day Secondary Education (FDSE) for the Year 2024 dated March 7, 2024.
In the guidelines signed by Kibet for PS and addressed to all County Directors of Education, MoE has given specific guidelines on FDSE capitation to schools where Government subsidy to schools is KSh22,244 a learner annually which will be disbursed to schools in equal installments of 50 per cent, 30 per cent and 20 per cent of the approved budget in first, second and third terms.
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The enrolment data to be used for the provision of the capitation (subsidy) will be obtained from NEMIS on March 1, 2024 for Second Term disbursement and July 1, 2024 for Third Term disbursement.
In the fee structure issued by MoE parents with children in day schools will not pay anything while those with children in boarding schools under category A which include all national and extra county schools in Nairobi, Mombasa, Nakuru, Kisumu, Nyeri, Thika and Eldoret will continue paying KSh53, 554 annually.
Those with children in classified under Category B which includes all schools that are boarding and extra county schools that are located in other areas other than the mentioned towns will pay KSh40, 535 while those in Special Needs Boarding Schools will pay KSh12, 790.
In the guidelines also, the MoE has retained the Medical and Insurance vote head where it has allocated KSh2, 000 a learner in the capitation grant.
The Government stopped the EduAfya programme insurance cover for learners last year, triggering widespread outcry among parents and students.
According to Health Cabinet Secretary Susan Nakhumicha, the KSh4.6 billion which was allocated for the programme will now be moved to the Primary Healthcare Fund, where students and their families will be covered.
The CS while explaining why the EduAfya Medical Scheme has to be phased out, she said that it makes no sense to insure a student who comes from a family but leaves the rest of the household uninsured and that all students will be covered under their households, under the new Social Health Insurance Fund (SHIF) which replaced National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF).
The EduAfya Medical Scheme became effective in May 2018 following a directive from former President Uhuru Kenyatta and it covered learners in public secondary schools across the country.
The National Parents Association (NPA) had asked the Government to give an alternative regarding the health of students in public secondary schools after removal of EduAfya scheme.
The Association National Chairperson David Silas Obuhatsa earlier on stated that the scheme was helping poor parents who couldn’t afford the medical and treatment expenses of their children hence its removal will cause many parents to suffer.
By Education News reporter
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