The date and theme for the 48th Kenya Secondary School Heads Association, (KESSHA), and national conference of Principals has been announced.
In a notice given to members and signed by the association National Chair, Willy Kuria, this year’s conference will start from 23rd to 27th June at Sheikh Zayed Hall in Mombasa County.
“Notice is hereby given to all members of Kenya Secondary School Heads Association, that the 48th Annual National Conference of Principals and Exhibition will be held from 23rd-27th June 2025 at the Sheikh Zayed Hall in Mombasa,” reads part of the notice.
The conference themed, ‘Embracing Pathways in Senior School Education’ come amid numerous crisis facing the Principals in the public secondary schools.
Recently the principals raised concern over the term two capitation delay for the free-day secondary education grants, which they added is making it hard to steer their institutions effectively.
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The National chairman, Willy Kuria who is also the Principal of Murang’a High School decried of the high costs of operations and failure by the government to remit capitation money in full, and in good time.
The Government allocates Ksh 22,244 per learner annually, under the free day secondary school program. The money is sent to schools in three trenches in a year, where the first term receives 50 percent, the second term 30 percent, and the third term 20 percent.
But according to Kuria at the mid of first term, they received in their accounts about Ksh 4,000 only, leaving schools to struggle with the deficit of around Ksh 6,000 per student.
“We are struggling, we are constrained. Without money in our accounts, we are unable to run the day-to-day activities of these schools,” he said
The chairman also revealed that as per last term, the government owes the learning institutions over Ksh 64 billion in arrears as a result of partial remittance of the specified amount over the past few years, the trend which he said is causing almost all secondary schools in the country to grapple with debt.
The conference also comes amid government top gear preparation of the transition of junior secondary students to senior schools, with guidelines on how students will be placed in various categorized school already in place.
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However the principals wonder how best they will make the government’s effort of having a successful senior schools transition succeed, the moment they are struggling with debts from contractors and suppliers, overcrowding and crumpling infrastructures.
The Principals are finding it hard to run their respective schools, being that the government, parents and community expects excellence in performance despite the hardship on the back of school heads.
According to Kuria, the situation in schools is very critical, hence forcing some school administrators, to seek the intervention of parents, to ensure that learning is not interrupted. Some even switch off their phones or avoid vicinity around the school to dodge suppliers and contactors who are constantly on their neck.
The situation got even worse in the recent 2025/26 financial budget year released, where the government slashed the education budget by Ksh 62 billion with key programs like school examination and invigilation, Quality Assurance and KEMIS Modernization get zero budget estimates. This has raised different reactions in all the education sector.
The school principals are walking on a tight string, with a lot on their table with shrinked budget to deliver from the exchequer.
By Brian Ndigo
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