KUPPET Bungoma branch Chairman David Barasa has welcomed the High Court’s decision to stop the government’s directive asking parents to pay school fees to national schools via the eCitizen platform.
Speaking while addressing the press in Bungoma, Barasa said that the directive would be a recipe for fresh chaos adding to the unrest among school heads over insufficient capitation funds.
“Our schools aren’t getting enough capitation funds, the things that Education CS Ezekiel Machogu says are very different from what is actually reaching schools,” he said.
Barasa noted that the move would kill efforts by schools that have Income Generating Activities (IGA) and also would disadvantage parents who pay fees by offering labour, and supplying firewood, bricks, grains and livestock.
“This eCitizen thing is going to lock out many parents, how will someone take bricks to eCitizen? The government should realize that schools have been surviving because Principals found innovative ways to run institutions,” he said.
The Unionist further questioned why the government was asking for schools’ account information.
“I don’t think there is anything that the government needs to know from schools because all the information is with them, unless they are implying that schools have ghost accounts,” he posed.
Barasa further called on the government to refund the monies that had been remitted to the Housing Levy deductions.
By Achola Bulimo Mathews
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