A public school in Eldoret associated with the family of legendary athlete Kipchoge Keino is caught up in row over plans to privatise it.
The Kipkeino Primary School in Turbo subcounty, Uasin Gishu, is one of the most prestigious institutions in the region with top class facilities. It has been operating as a public school under the Ministry of Education.
A month ago, the ministry received an application to convert the school from its current public status to a private institution.
The ministry then placed an advertisement in the media seeking feedback from the public on the plan to privatise the school.
Parents and the local community are opposing the plan which they now term as "grabbing” of their institution which they had built by paying high fees ranging between Sh100,000 and Sh160,000 for many years.
The ministry has asked those with concerns or views to raise the same within two weeks.
“Those with concerns have 14 days from the date of the public notice to submit their input either in writing to the school administrator or via email,” stated a newspaper notice.
The advertisement sparked anger from the parents who say they will not allow the planned privatisation.
Some of the parents have accused the family of Keino of managing the school as a family property yet the institution has been benefiting from FPE funding as well as text books from the government.
Records from the ministry indicate that the school was registered as a public school on January 3, 2001 with registration no G/PE/0011/2001.
“We have been paying fees knowing that it’s a public school and that we had a role to help develop its infrastructure. It’s not acceptable that someone wakes up to privatise the school ignoring all that we have invested to build it,” said one parent.
The parents are accusing senior education officials both from the national government and county of ignoring what is going on at the institution yet its a public school.
“We have written several letters to the ministry and the county but there has been no response. This can only mean they are ignoring our concerns as part of the scheme to allow privatisation of the school,” said another parent.
To prove that the school is public, some of the parents claimed that in the 1980s, former president Daniel Moi donated 200 acres of land on which the school is built.
A recent meeting called by the management to inform parents about the change of ownership, ended prematurely as most of the parents walked out in protest.
The family of Keino insists that the school has never been a public school although its has been benefitting from public funding including textbooks from the Education ministry which are meant for public schools.
The family says it has documents to prove that the school was registered as a private school after the family purchased land for it in 1987.
The family says the school is on private land whose title deed was under Phyllis Keino title number: Kiplombe/Kiplombe Block 5(Kaptich)/66 (now under Lewa Children’s Home Trust)
The land is 30 acres and not 200 as claimed by some parents, they say.
The Keino family insists that in 1987, they sought approval from the district education office, Uasin Gishu district, to establish a school in aid of the registered charity known as Kipkeino Children’s Home which has since changed to Children’s Home.
Andrew Kiptoo, a member of the family and also a board member at the school, says they pooled resources from family and friends to come up with the school.
“The vision was to educate children within the community while delivering quality education for both the vulnerable children at the children's home and community at large,” Kiptoo said.
He added that upon registration, the government posted teachers to both public schools and those run as charitable organisations.
“That is how the school, having been registered as a charitable organisation, qualified and received TSC teachers from then to date,” Kiptoo said.
They were later advised to re-register as a public school to facilitate deployment of TSC teachers.
“The school has only been receiving funding from Lewa Children’s Home Trust and the Keino family for further school development and not the government,” Kiptoo said.
He said they decided to go private to allow the family fully manage affairs of the schools without depending on TSC teachers but instead employ their own teachers.
Residents led by Noah Arap Singoei have opposed the move to privatise the school.
“This is just a plan to grab the school and we won't accept that,” Singoei said.
Uasin Gishu county education director John Thiringi confirmed that the process of privatising the school has been ongoing since 2014.
“The privatisation process has been going on and it’s allowed in law,” Thiringi said.