- Parents in Nyamira County have expressed fear that their children will be sent home from school over unpaid fees and extra levies as the third term opens.
- Traders have raised prices of learning materials and transport fares, with a ream of paper rising from Sh650 to Sh850 and matatu fares increasing by up to Sh100.
- Education stakeholders have renewed calls for the abolition of boarding schools, arguing that day schooling would ease the financial burden on poor families.
Parents in Nyamira County are facing a financial crisis as schools reopen for the third term today, with many fearing their children will be sent home over unpaid fees and extra levies.
A spot check at Konate Junction along the Ekerenyo-Nyamira road this morning showed matatus and bodabodas ferrying parents and students back to school. Many parents said they were escorting their children not due to insecurity, but for fear they would be turned away for failure to clear fee balances and provide additional learning materials. According to parents, schools are demanding two reams of photocopying paper per student and up to Sh2,000 in compulsory remedial fees alongside term fees.
“My children are in secondary school. I have paid bus fare three times this morning. Now the principal will ask for reams and remedial. Where will I get it?” one mother told Education News.
Parents are now appealing to principals not to send learners home during this short nine-week term that leads to KCSE and KPSEA national examinations.
“We are begging principals not to send our children home for fees. If you send them now, they will lose crucial revision. Keep them in class; we shall pay slowly even after exams,” said Mzee Nyakundi, a parent from Bonyamatuta. Parents said delayed harvests, pending tea bonuses and low casual wages have made it difficult to raise school requirements.
Adding to the pressure, traders have hiked prices of learning materials. A ream of paper that retailed at Sh650 last week is now selling at Sh850. Counter books have risen from Sh120 to Sh150, while school shoes have increased from Sh1,100 to Sh1,400. Transport costs have also risen, with matatus plying the Ekerenyo-Nyamira route increasing fares from Sh150 to Sh250, and the Keroka-Nyamira fare going up from Sh200 to Sh300.
Most principals who spoke to Education News blamed parents for “crying too much” and asked them to take up their parental responsibility. “We are also parents apart from being educators. Let parents avoid leaning against the general economic struggles each one of us is feeling, but we must not take chances,” said one senior principal. The principals cited the late remittance of government capitation for the second term as a major challenge, saying schools lack funds to buy chalk, food and pay support staff, forcing them to impose extra levies to keep institutions running.
Concerned parents agreed they are not evading their duties, but appealed to education officers to put in place checks and measures on some principals they accused of exploiting them through the imposition of illegal levies.
The situation has reignited debate on the cost of boarding education. Education stakeholders in the area are calling for the abolition of boarding schools except for national schools, arguing that boarding fees of up to Sh70,000 per year, compared to Sh25,000 for day schools, are unsustainable for poor families. They argue that day schooling would reduce costs on dormitories, transport and extra levies, keep children under parental guidance, and make government capitation sufficient to run schools.
As schools reopen, parents remain hopeful that learners will be allowed to stay in school as they work to clear their fee balances.
By Enock Okong’o
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