Learning in some secondary schools in Embu County continue to be disrupted as principals send children home to fetch arrears of various school levies.
While some of the levies are agreed upon by the schools’ boards of management (BoM) and approved by parents, others are arbitrarily slapped by principals and teachers.
For the last three weeks, scores of students have been seen making desperate calls using borrowed phones at various trading centres. They are probably calling their parents to send them money so that they do not have to make the inconvenient journey home.
Parents say that some students owe the school as little as five hundred shillings, which does not make sense as they spend over double that amount to get home.
Day schools have been the worst affected especially in Mbeere North, Manyatta and Mbeere South.
It is hard to control the behaviour of students once they are out of the school compound. Disciplinary issues arise because of frustration, leading to some of the common problems of promiscuity and pregnancy, drugs and substance abuse.
A day school principal from Manyatta Constituency who declined to be named insists that parents had agreed that all school arrears have to be cleared before the end of year, and before national examinations kick off.
As things stand though, there must be a better way of getting the parents to pay. Exposing the children to vices is irresponsible considering that eventually that money must be paid anyway.
By Robert Nyagah
Get more stories from our website: Education News
To write to us or offer feedback, you can reach us at: editor@educationnews.co.ke
You can also follow our social media pages on Twitter: Education News KE and Facebook: Education News Newspaper for timely updates.
>>> Click here to stay up-to-date with trending regional stories
