Schools are still demanding tuition fee despite the Free Primary Education (FPE) that was started in 2003 when the Kibaki government came to power.
The initiative has had it challenges, from delayed disbursement of funds to mismanagement and insufficient funds in some schools.
Some headteachers have argued that the money is not enough to run a school. That claim might be true, because as a parent, I once sat in a Parent Teacher Meeting where we were told that tuition fee is around Ksh. 6 bob per month per child. Yey! Good thing this school (name withheld) has some tangible development records.
Shocking, Right?
But even more shocking is when parents are forced to literary cough out any small money that they have in order to keep their kids in school, or risk them to be made to ‘not pass exams’.
Parents are also forced to pay for tuition fees.
Tuition was banned by the then Minister of Education Mutula Kilonzo in 2012 during the launch of Education for All (EFA). Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i, while he was in the education docket in 2017, reiterated this ban. However, it seems to have fallen on deaf ears.
The case below, of Moi Educational Center, represents the thin line between trying to make school stay afloat and outright robbery with no tangible evidence of development on the ground. Hi Nyakundi, Please hide my contacts.
There is a worrisome issue at Moi educational Centre in Nairobi that borders on extortion. Parents of Std 8 pupils are being forced to pay 10k per pupil per term as motivation for teachers to conduct extra tuition between 4.30pm to 5.30pm weekdays and on Saturday from 7am to 1pm.
According to Ministry of Education circular tuition was banned but this school continues to offer the same in contravention of that circular. Class representatives in collusion with teachers arrived at a figure of 10k on top of the school fees which is 76k per term excluding transport.
The issue now is that parents who have not paid the Kshs. 10,000 because they don't agree with the figure or don't have money after paying fees and don’t agree with the tuition are being threatened by some parents in collaboration with teaches and even their kids are being harassed and told they will never pass exams .
There are even suggestion to remove the kids from class and make them stand under some tree. It is important to note that people are being forced to pay for an illegality and threatened over the same.
It is important to remember that Moi education has 6 streams for std 8 with each stream having around 35 kids. basic arithmetic shows a total of 210 kids @10k which works to Kshs. 2.1 million per term. This is shared by around 10 teachers.
This money has no accountability since it's not factored into official school records. The worst part is even parents whose kids are not attending the extra tuition on Saturdays are being threatened to pay.
When you try to question you are abused and removed from WhatsApp group and somehow the message is given to other kids who start talking about how "your parent was moved out of the group". This is traumatizing to the pupils. A token should not be forced.
Kindly bring this issue out to your contacts at the Ministry of Education and send the same to Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) as it involves collecting money from the public.
A court case may ensue the way things are going. (we can provide all the chats with names )
Kindly assist because this is wrong.
Thank you.
Somebody alert George Magoha.