Why school heads are to blame for Govt underfunding of their schools through capitation

The disbursement of Term 2 capitation was real melodious music to the ears of parents, learners, teachers, and heads of institutions alike.

Article 53 Section 1 of the Kenyan Constitution guarantees children the right to free and compulsory education, basic needs, protection, parental care, and the use of detention as the last option.

Our government must implement the necessary interventions to avoid incessant delays in school capitation and ensure that the normal flow of school programmes is not interfered with.

Learning institutions have been selflessly struggling to keep learners in school, often resorting to borrowing and accumulating debts.

The heads of institutions must provide accurate data to the Ministry of Education to ensure the success of the National Education Management Information System, which is periodically updated.

Lately, we have had a notable disparity in capitation in the just-concluded resource distribution.

Institutional heads must be periodically briefed on the latest developments at the ministry to avoid challenges when schools are underfunded.

I am trying to imagine empathetically: suppose a school received a total disbursement of Ksh. 87 and another Ksh. 4,000. What will the principals use to settle debts, pay workers, fund school operations, and participate in co-curricular activities? It’s so disturbing.

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The government has been blaming heads of institutions for failing to provide timely and accurate statistics, thereby frustrating the disbursement process. Meanwhile, the heads of institutions blame the government for the delay in releasing funds. This has left us all wondering who is telling the truth.

The government has repeatedly raised concerns about discrepancies between reported learner enrolment figures and the actual number of learners present in schools.

There have been documented instances where capitation funds were disbursed to ghost students and even non-existent schools.

Since the beginning of the year, schools have suffered significant setbacks, and it is high time the funding issue was treated with the seriousness it deserves.

Heads of institutions must regularly harmonise their data to prevent such unfortunate scenarios in the future.

A teacher who requested anonymity revealed that he encountered two platforms for verifying data while keying learner details into the Ministry of Education system.

One platform was at the local education office, while the other was at the Ministry of Education headquarters—both demanded authentic records.
He further explained that names were reviewed and cleared after submitting the records, paving the way for disbursement.

He also noted that in some cases, only 20 learners had authenticated their details in a school with 300 students.

The Ministry of Education, for its part, must update institution heads on their status regarding potential capitation disbursements.

There must be consistency between the NEMIS and KNEC records, especially for Competency-Based Education (CBE) schools.

Another truth is that learners’ records can be accurately tracked using birth certificates, which are a mandatory requirement upon admission.

NEMIS has the potential to ensure that a learner’s movements and enrolment history are properly documented. Therefore, part of the challenge lies with parents, who sometimes fail to provide birth certificates and other vital administrative details to schools.

Unless the relationship between institution heads and the Ministry of Education is properly harmonised, we should expect continued funding discrepancies.

By Hillary Muhalya