By Hilton Mwabili
Frustrations over financial constraints are mounting among parents and guardians in Mombasa who have been irked by the series of short holiday breaks in the condensed school calendar.
The parents claim the short holidays deny them ample time to save for school fees. They have also expressed fear that their children may fail to go back to school due to lack of fees.
Some parents have expressed concern 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.
46 year old Mwajumbe Salim who lives in Jomvu says her child, who is in form two, may be forced to drop out of school because she can’t raise the secondary school fees within the short holiday period.
The mother of four, who has been a tailor, says her job stalled and she faces an uphill task to raise fees for her child who schools in Mazeras Memorial School. The school fees is Shs 35,000 per year.
“How will I be able to raise fees, shopping and transport of my child within a period of one week? I feel so strained that I might ask my child to stay at home because I do not have any avenue to raise fees,’ Mwajumbe said.
Nyamvula Chimera, a mother of five, also said that her two children in Mbuguni secondary school in Kwale County are likely to stay at home due to lack of fees.
“I sell Mahamri to earn a living and the money I make can’t sustain my two children in secondary school. I also have three children in primary school who are straining us due to expenses brought about by the competence based curriculum,” stated Chimera.
John Kasungo, 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 school fee balance of Shs 9,000 for my child in form four and Shs 7,000 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. The schools want the government to introduce a grace period within which parents should pay fees for the next term and also want head teachers not to chase away poor children.
APBET secretary general Juma Athman Lubambo says many learners may opt to drop out of school.
“We don’t 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,” said Lubambo.
