By Amoto Ndiewo
Appearing to rescind on an earlier stand that head teachers shouldn’t send students home over school fees balances, Education CS George Magoha has ordered school heads across the country to ensure that all learners from abled families pay their third term balances without delay.
Speaking at Jomo Kenyatta University Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT)while handing over a multi-million Agriculture Laboratory Building funded by Japanese International Co-operation Agency (JICA), Magoha took a swipe at financially endowed parents for taking advantage of his earlier stand of not sending students home over school fees due to economically crippling Covid-19 pandemic conditions.
“Some parents have exploited my earlier instructions of not sending students home over school fee balances to refuse to remit the dues. I urge the head teachers to double check and ensure students being sent home aren’t from poor families or whose parents lost jobs due Covid-19,’’ stated the CS who added there were no challenges in ongoing form -one selection.
He said the exercise is going on fairly and priority will be given to bright students from informal settlements.
Magoha’s directive comes in the wake of the government releasing Sh9.3 billion to all public schools across the country. Out of that sum total Sh2.8 billon and Sh6.5biilion is for primary and secondary schools respectively.
As the secondary school principals rejoice to implement the Education CS’s directive to salvage their debt ridden schools, it remains to be seen how they’ll identify students from financially able and not so able families as some parents sulk.
“ Faced with a deteriorating economic assault, even some of us with jobs are earing monies that cannot buy food,’’ lamented Abass Mohamud in Tana River County.
Meanwhile, JKUAT Vice Chancellor Victoria Ngumi took the opportunity to laud the Japanese government in partnership with their Kenyan counterparts for their initiative.
“The renovation of ALB Project is key to the research based institution as what was there before was only limited to bachelors students,’’ the VC said, adding that, ‘post graduate agricultural students will now occupy the new building funded to the tune of Sh70million.’’
