This archive report was first published on 12 June 2020.
Published on June 12, 2020, by Faith Nyamai
Kenya National Union of Teachers (Knut) Secretary-General Wilson Sossion has opposed a proposal by Private Schools Association to allocate funds to cushion private institutions against the effects of Covid-19.
According to Sossion, the government has no social contract with business-oriented learning institutions, making it unreasonable to provide grants to private schools to pay staff salaries.
“The proposal by private schools owners that the State should provide grants to enable them pay staff salaries is totally out of tune,” Sossion said.
He argued that using taxpayers' money to finance private businesses would be a violation of government policy, which aims to provide children with free quality education.
“It will be wrong to use tax payers' money to finance private businesses. Investors should seek alternative funding from financial institutions or elsewhere to keep their enterprises afloat,” Sossion said.
Furthermore, Sossion asked the government to ignore the proposal since the Sh6 billion allocated to the Ministry of Education under the Covid-19 Economic Stimulus programme is insufficient to address the problems facing the sector.
He also pointed out that in the post-Covid-19 period, the government will need more funds to expand classrooms for learners to observe social distancing.
Private Schools Association (PSA) Chief Executive Officer Peter Ndoro said the institutions currently face a serious financial crunch, with thousands of private school teachers not being paid their salaries since March.
However, Sossion described the demand by private schools for funds as laughable and an insult to the intelligence of the public, which is aware of the billions of shillings they make annually.
He also emphasized the need for the government to allocate more funds to public schools, which are facing an acute shortage of teachers, standing at 125,615.
