Key issues as high school heads meet

Over 9,000 public secondary school heads are expected to converge at the Sheikh Zayed Hall in Mombasa to deliberate on issues affecting public secondary schools in the country.

The heads will be meeting for the 46th edition of the Kenya Secondary School Heads Association, whose theme this year is 'Enhancing Effectiveness and Efficiency of Education in Kenya'.

The five-day conference, which starts on Monday, comes amid continued complaints about the delayed disbursement of capitation to schools from the government.

Delays in the release of the funds affects operation in schools, forcing heads to devise ways of keeping the schools afloat.

Education CS Ezekiel Machogu, who is expected to preside over the official opening ceremony on Wednesday, has consistently denied there is any crisis in the education sector over delayed disbursement.

Earlier this month, the Education ministry disbursed Sh24 billion to schools instead of Sh28 billion.

Machogu explained that about Sh2 billion for infrastructural development and another Sh2 billion for the school feeding programme were yet to be disbursed.

School heads question the criteria the ministry adopted to disburse the funds as it is expected to disburse 50 per cent of the capitation in the first term, 30 per cent in the second term and 20 per cent in the third term.

CS Machogu said the implementation of this strategy is part and parcel of reforms that are still in the pipeline.

Kenya Union of Post Primary Teachers Kisumu county executive secretary Zablon Awange on Sunday told the Star capitation delays and reduced sums affect learning in bigger ways than imagined.

“The whereabouts of the Sh4 billion is still a mystery,” Awange said on the phone.

"That, going to schools, is a very huge amount of money, bearing in mind this was supposed to be capitation for first term, but it has come in the middle of second term, and it is not 50 per cent as required."

He said there is a lot of disquiet because principals are in a crisis, affecting the running of schools.

“This is serious to the extent that some principals have either closed early for the half term or have resorted to one meal a day for the boarding schools,” Awange said.

The Kuppet officials said because of the delayed disbursement, principals have devised ways of increasing the school levy to overcome the shortfall, despite the government consistently cautioning against this.

Awange’s Mombasa county counterpart Lynette Kamadi said the new formula for disbursement of the capitation is also confusing.

The government wants to disburse the capitation in equal instalments quarterly instead of the 50, 30 and 20 per cent installments for the three terms respectively.

Kamadi said this new formula, which will see the money equally take 25 per cent instalments, will be insufficient for schools, especially in the first term.

“Term one usually has so many extracurricular activities, which are capital-intensive, and thus needs a lot of funds. Term two is the same and term three usually has almost no extracurricular activities,” she said.

Term three is usually short and Form 1 to 3 students usually go home earlier, leaving the candidates in school, meaning less money is required.

The little money, Kamadi said, will not help the principal pay the personal emoluments to support staff.

“Yet the parents have been told they should not pay any single penny in terms of school fees and aiding the schools,” she said.

Awange said education policies, like the one on increased levy, are being disregarded.

The government, he said, should find a harmonious way of ensuring these policies are fully implemented.

For instance, guidelines on the fee structure and the 100 per cent transition are not being implemented, with most students dropping out as a result.

It works this way: Principals, because of the delayed disbursement of capitation, resort to increasing levies through the fee structures.

Nobody follows up on this one.

Increased fees means some students cannot afford to pay and they eventually drop out, consequently affecting the meaning of 100 per cent transition.

Awange said working hours have been in the policy but are not being adhered to.

The policy says learners should not be taught for more than six hours a day.

Recently, CS Machogu pointed this out, but Awange said he merely pointed out what has been on paper for a long time.

“He meekly said that because he knows that the policy is being violated. I expect the government to put its foot down,” Awange said.

The guideline says learners should not be in school before 6am and past 5pm.

However, some schools have devised ways to keep learners in school as early as 5am and as late as 8pm.

Staffing, he said, will be a hot topic at the conference, too, with the teacher shortage being at over 70,000.

The government has been trying to address this, employing some 35,000 teachers last term, but most of these went to the Junior Secondary Schools, which will also come up as another topic of discussion.

The secondary school heads insist the JSS should be domiciled in secondary schools, but the government has domiciled it in primary schools.

The intended scrapping of boarding schools next year by the government will also form a hot topic of debate at the conference.

Kamadi said nobody forces parents to take their children to school.

“These public boarding schools have put up structures, like dormitories, on public land. What will happen to them if the boarding is scrapped? Will they become museums?” Kamadi said.

The Mombasa Kuppet official said the boarding schools are mostly located in far-flung areas, away from towns and centres to avoid noise and distraction.

“So when you turn them into day schools, who will go there? These schools and the teachers there will be underutilised. This will kill the dream of having proper schools,” Kamadi said.

She said boarding schools should be left for parents willing to take their children to them.

She said having day schools, with parents busy at work, will likely increase indiscipline cases among learners.

“What they should think of doing is increasing the number of day schools instead,” Kamadi suggested.

Teachers’ salary increment will be another interesting debate with the looming increase in taxes.

Kamadi said teachers are still opposed to the 1.5 per cent housing levy.

“We are still not buying that idea. We do not want to be forced to pay tax for houses. We are in a country where our views must be respected,” she said.

“They are not increasing our salaries, they are not promoting us and they are overtaxing us, taking away the very little they are giving unto us. Where will we go? How will we make ends meet?”