Case for Education Fund
Class eight pupils in class being taken through lesson by their teacher at Kakamega Primary School in Kakamega town on July 26, 2021.
What you need to know:
- With the 100 per cent transition, challenges such as inadequate infrastructure and teaching staff arose.
- Bursaries and scholarships by benefactors like public and private organisations and individuals are inadequate.
Is education a commodity for sale? Should those who cannot afford it be denied an opportunity to get an education? These are questions that society take an honest approach in responding.
Our education system is not adequately funded. The Free Secondary Day Education (FSDE) is not entirely free. Some schools charge as much as Sh20,000 as lunch fee. Since most of these day schools are under-resourced in terms of teachers, their boards of management are left with no option but charge extra levies for teachers’ salaries.
With Covid-19, many have lost jobs and incomes; hence, many learners are sent home for lunch fee. In a circular, the Ministry of Education says lunch is optional in day schools; so why don’t schools disengage classes from lunch programmes? Why not just deny learners lunch if they have not paid for it ?
This might shock you but “lunch fee” is not exclusively used to pay for learners’ lunch: It is also used to pay salaries for support staff and teachers. With the 100 per cent transition, challenges such as inadequate infrastructure and teaching staff arose. Besides building structures, some schools have to employ more than half their teaching staff.
That has become a notorious burden on parents. That is besides the ‘motivation’ fee, which is the new craze. Some schools charge up to Sh15,000 — and as the first charge on any payment. Bursaries and scholarships by benefactors like public and private organisations and individuals are inadequate. Many children out of school for their inability to pay fees.
We are quick to impose levies on other infrastructure; with human capital at the core of society, why not have a fund to finance infrastructure, human resource and learning and teaching materials in schools? Why not make the fund the first charge in our budget and not repayment of Chinese debts?
You have to sympathise with Prof George Magoha when the Education CS talks about having projectors in schools with no classrooms, toilets or desks.
Mr Rono, the Ol’Lessos Ward Representative, is the chair, Education Committee, in the Nandi County Assembly. @mengeech
