By Roy Hezron
The government through the Ministry of Education has warned schools heads who receive government subsidy for student above the stipulated enrollment that they will be charged as per the law.
Principal Secretary in the State Department Of Basic And Early Learning Dr. Julius Jwan, in a circular addressed to all county directors of education warned school heads of over enrollment. The circular was meant to give guidelines on the implementation of Free Day Secondary Schools for the year 2021-2022.
He urged school heads to adhere to the laid down financial regulations stipulated in the revised Handbook on Financial Management for Public Secondary Schools, Teacher Training Colleges and Technical and Vocational Colleges in Kenya and to ensure prudence use of school funds.
Dr Jwan maintained that any changes in information of a school’s bank accounts will only be effected at the Ministry of Education Headquarters at Jogoo House. He also warned that no schools should enter into financial contracts without a written approval by the Cabinet Secretary of Education.
The Ministry has also instructed all school principals to ensure that all eligible leaners are fully registered and captured on the National Education Management Information System(NEMIS) platform since funds will be disbursed using the data available in the platform.
“Transfer of students should be avoided in the course of the academic year and may only be sanctioned by the Director General under special circumstances,” advised Dr. Jwan.
According to Public Finance Management Act 2012, a public officer commits an offence if the officer takes possession of public funds or assets without lawful authority, misappropriates public funds or assets, conceals information on public finances to obtain a financial benefit either for the officer or another person; or engages in a corrupt act; which includes soliciting or receiving an inducement.
The act states that a person found guilty of committing an offence is liable to conviction to a term of imprisonment not exceeding five years or to a fine not exceeding 10 million shillings, or both.
In the recently released Auditor General’s report for the 2019/2020 Financial Year, the State Department has been faulted for paying Sh1.8 billion to over 2,000 secondary schools with ghost students and another Sh26.8 million to five ghost schools.
Infrastructure Improvement
In the 2021 school academic calendar which starts on July 26, 2021, the government through the Ministry of Education has allocated a total of Sh. 5, 000 per student from the GOK subsidy as Maintenance and Improvement Fund (MIF). Parents with children in boarding schools will be required to pay an additional Kshs 2,000.
The MIF is only used for immovable assets and other form of infrastructure in the school that might require an upgrade.
The government’s 100 per cent transition programme has resulted in a sharp increase in the number of students joining secondary schools.
School principals have decried that there has been no increase in funding forcing them to resort to other means to cope with the bulging student population.
In the 2020 form one selection, 36254 candidates (17406 girls and 18848 boys) will join national schools, 201,067 learners (95,646 girls and 105,431 boys) will join extra-County schools, 213,591 candidates (115,325 girls and 98,256 boys) will attend County Schools while 718,516 (357,029 girls and 361,487 boys) are set to join Sub-County schools-.
