School in Garissa fails to get free primary education funds for three years

A public primary school in Garissa County‘s Fafi Constituency is not benefiting the much hyped Free Primary Education three years down the line even after submitting all the documents required, forcing parents and teachers to buy books for their children.

According to Mr Abdi Hailow, the headmaster of Fafi Girls Primary School in Bura Sub-County, despite the school being public institution, it has never received a cent from the Free Primary Education fund, making it extremely difficult to run the school.

He said as the head of the institution, he has to make sure learners are attended to and taught consequently teachers are forced to chip in from their salaries to buy text books and other writing materials that would otherwise have been bought using the FPE funds.

Free primary education, which was introduced in January 2003 by former president Mwai Kibaki’s administration, has been credited with boosting the enrolment of pupils in schools across the country.

SCHOOL RUN BY PARENTS

Mr Hailow told Daily Nation that the public school is literally run by parents because they not only buy exercise books for their children but they also pay extra cash to keep untrained teachers in school since many government-employed teachers left in 2015 because of security related issues.

“We buy our own text books while ideally they are supposed to be bought through the free education programme.

“I have followed up through the local education officials so that the school gets FPE funds for the last three years but nothing has been forthcoming.

“What do we do and children must be attended to? We have to sacrifice some of our hard earned salaries to buy books,” the visibly disappointed teacher said.

He blamed the institution's lack of FPE funds on Fafi education officials whom he said never relay the school’s plight to the relevant authorities.

“I blame the sub-county education officer because I believe the information hardly reaches the required offices,” Mr Hailow, who has been in the teaching profession for the last 22 years, said.

He said the girls’ school does not have a playground, water and fence, adding that the problem has been compounded by the shortage of teachers after three of them left the school after the Garissa University College terrorist attack on April 2, 2015.

NO TOILETS

“It is dangerous and risky to keep girls in a school that is not fenced and more so a school that does not have toilets. They (girls) are forced to go some distance out of the school to relieve themselves.

“I believe if the Education minister comes to this school he will order the school to be closed,” he said.

Effort by the Nation to contact the Bura Sub-County education officer in Fafi over the matter were unsuccessful as his office was closed.

However, the Garissa County Education Director Adan Sheikh Abdullahi confirmed that information regarding the school’s inability to get the FPE funds had not reached his office.

“I am totally not aware of any public school that is not receiving FPE because all sub-county education officials have to make returns of each school, signed by heads of institutions before the funds can be disbursed,” he said.

He, however, said he will launch immediate investigations into the matter, saying this must be negligence by either the education officials or the head of the institution.

He noted that all public schools are supposed to be under the FPE programme.