Lower fees but give cash on time, expand schools

The government’s decision to revise secondary school fees downwards is a welcome boon to parents. In the new development, fees in public boarding secondary schools have been reduced by an average of Sh8,000 annually. 

At the same time, the Education ministry has pledged to expedite disbursement of capital grants to schools to ensure learning goes on without disruption.

The education sector has been almost devastated by Covid-19. Last year, schools closed for nearly 10 months, except for examination classes that had to reopen earlier to complete the syllabus and prepare for the tests.

When schools resumed, the calendar was shortened to recover lost time. In effect, the current academic year was reduced from the usual 39 to 30 weeks. In line with this, the ministry has moved to do the necessary — reduce school fees because learning costs have gone down by dint of the shortened academic calendar.

Terrible condition

However, infrastructure in most schools is in a terrible condition. Facilities are inadequate and the existing ones dilapidated. Classrooms, dormitories and laboratories are crowded. Yet the students, teachers and support staff are expected to maintain social distancing to comply with Covid-19 regulations.

Matters have been aggravated by the policy requiring 100 per cent transition from primary to secondary school, which means enrolling all of last year’s Standard Eight candidates in the existing high schools next month. The goal is noble but the pressure on schools is unprecedented.

Whereas the reduction of fees will serve the interest of parents, schools have financial constraints, given that costs such as facility maintenance, salaries and utilities do not reduce substantially even when the academic term is compressed. The government has allocated some Sh5,000 for maintenance and facility improvement but this is not adequate.

We acknowledge the government’s magnanimity, which is quite helpful at this time of economic depression, when households are impoverished due to coronavirus infections. However, the authorities must be alive to the fact that the current funding is not adequate to expand public schools to accommodate all the students safely. Besides, the government must release capitation early for their financial stability.