An enraged parent has called on relevant legal authorities to move in swiftly and tame an ongoing extortion enterprise at Kimathi Primary School in Bahati, Kiambu County.
Speaking to this blog on Saturday, 4 June, the source revealed how the current administration is reportedly milking them dry through exorbitant fees and charges that are totally unacceptable for a public institution meant to be providing free education.
During the school’s recent admission process, they pushed each guardian to fork out over Sh10, 000 disguised in dubious payments for learning materials typically provided by the state and for other unnecessary purposes.
According to our source, when he boldly confronted the school’s heads regarding the gross overcharging, they insistently asked him to present himself physically, which was simply a ploy to arm-twist him into going silent about the matter.
With three streams of each class and a population of about 2,400 pupils, they estimate the school to make at least Sh2.4 million whenever they request the occasional Sh1,000 for unjustified reasons. “Hello, Cyprian. Thanks for the good job of exposing social ills in Kenya. I am reporting a blatant case of corruption in Kimathi Primary School in Nairobi. Kimathi Primary School is a public school which should provide free primary education, but every step taken by the school’s management points to a brazen money extortion enterprise. The school is taking advantage of parents by treating them as a money minting machine. I have contacted EACC on the same but as usual; I am afraid that they might be slow to take action as parents continue to be cheated off their hard-earned money. This is a public school that makes a mockery of free primary education. I am a guardian at the school, and the child I am sponsoring joined the school in April 2021. This was at the height of Covid. Upon joining, the headteacher compelled us to pay an interview fee, desk fee and newcomers fee, which totalled KES 10,000. This was despite a Government of Kenya directive that no child should pay anything to join a public school. Besides this cost, we are also paying other termly and additional annual costs that are compulsory. These are as stated below. The final straw was the increase in PTA fees from KES 2,000 to KES 3,000 per term. Lunch - Sh70 daily Exam Fees - Sh400 per term Uji - Sh300 per term Report Book - Sh600 per term School Diary - Sh600 per term Report Book - Sh600 per term Swimming - Sh300 per term Prize award - Sh100 per term Activity fee - Sh2,000 per term PTA - Sh3,000 per term Building - Sh1,200 per term Maintenance - Sh1,000 per term Soap 4 pieces + 4 pieces Tissue Paper - Sh400 per term Teachers’ Motivation- Sh100 per term Manilla Paper 3 pieces - Sh300 per term Exercise books 18 pieces 96 pages - Sh1,050 Per term Cover - Sh360 per term Textbooks - Sh700 per term 2 Ream photocopy papers - Sh600 per term 2 File Sh60 per term I have tried to find out why the school needs us to pay for all this, yet it is a public school, but the school has not responded. Instead, they have tried to call me frequently to come to the school physically so that they can talk to me to keep quiet about the issue, but I have not cooperated. Furthermore, I do not want them to identify the child I am sponsoring since I am not the one who attends the school meetings. I only facilitate her education and I feel like the school is taking financial advantage of the parents and guardians. The school has 3 streams from class 1 to class 8 and each class has around 100 pupils. If the school solicits this much from one parent, I wonder how much they make per class, considering that all these payments are compulsory. As a rough estimate, if Kimathi Primary has 2,400 pupils, each time the school demands KES 1,000, KES 2.4 Million is extorted from parents. Given that the government provides funds for free primary education, I demand to know (as a tax-paying citizen) where these funds go. Please look into this and help the parents and guardians at Kimathi Primary School and other public schools facing the same plight," the source writes.