By Hilton Mwabili
Frustrations over financial constraints are mounting among parents and guardians in Mombasa due to fee hike after the series of short holiday breaks in the condensed school calendar as parents say they have denied them ample time to save for school fees.
With the trend, the parents have expressed fears that their children may fail to resume learning next term due to lack of school fees.
Parents and guardians continue to bear the brunt of the school calendar adjustments that have reduced the school holiday period to ten days, thus straining parents who are struggling with the harsh economic period.
A section of parents are worried that they will not be able to raise school fees for next term because all their income generating avenues have been disrupted by Covid-19.
Mwajumbe Salim, 46 year-old widow living in Jomvu in Mombasa is among the worried lot. She says her child who is a form two student may be forced to drop out because she has no other option to raise secondary school fees within the short holiday period.
The mother of four, who has been a tailor, says her job stalled and now she faces an uphill task to raise fees for her child who schools in Mazeras Memorial School, a school that charges Sh35,000 per year.
“How will I be able to raise fees, shopping and transport of my child within a period of one week, as a parent I feel so strained that the only hope is to ask my child to stay at home because I have no job or any other avenue to raise fees,” Mwajumbe told the media.
Nyamvula Chimera, 42, says the burden on fees is just too much considering the condensed school calendar this year. The mother of five says her two children in Mbuguni Secondary School in Kwale are likely to stay at home due to school fees as well.
“I sell Mahamri to earn a living and the little I make is just too little to sustain my two children in secondary school. Again I have other three children in primary school who are also straining us due to expenses brought about by the competence based curriculum,” stated Chimera.
Another parent John Kasungo aslo 42 and a parent with two children at Johanna Chase Secondary School in Makueni county says the calendar readjustments have burdened him especially after losing his job as a truck driver in Mombasa.
“As we speak I have a school fee balance of Sh9,000 for my child in form four and Sh7,000 for my child in form two. I am worried because I don’t know where I will raise that money from, considering this short period they will be closing,” said Kasungo.
The situation has also affected Alternative Providers of Basic Education and Training dubbed APBET Schools in the country who want the government to introduce a grace period within which parents should pay fees for next term and also ask head teachers not to chase away poor children.
According to APBET secretary general,Juma Athman Lubambo says many learners may opt to drop out of school adding that the government should take cognizance of the situation and come to the aid of parents.
“We don not want a situation where many learners will stay away from school, the government needs to know that parents are overburdened with school fees due to the condensed calendar, therefore, they should direct that poor learners not to be chased from Schools,” said Lubambo.
