Poorly performing heads could be next on Matiang’i firing line

School heads flouting fees guidelines and those whose institutions performed poorly in last year’s national examinations are next in the firing line as Education Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i embarks on the second phase of reforms in the education sector.

Schools countrywide reopen on Wednesday for the new academic year in which the government has pledged to crack down on non-performing school principals, but the immediate focus for education officials will be the strict enforcement of school fees guidelines.

Dr Matiang’i has said he will from Wednesday lead a team of senior education officials on a tour of selected schools countrywide to ensure headteachers adhere to the guidelines.

PRINCIPALS WARNED

While releasing the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education examination results on Thursday last week, Dr Matiang’i warned that any school head found to be flouting the guidelines would be dealt with firmly.

“I wish to put boards of management of schools that charge extra fees on notice. Once we confirm any such illegalities, appropriate disciplinary action shall be meted out,” he said.

Kenya Secondary Schools Heads Association chairman Kahi Indimuli said on Monday principals across the country had resolved to operate within the new fees structures but called on the government to consider providing lunch for students in day schools to ease the burden on budgets.

“We are ready to comply and we have passed the same message to all principals. We do not want to run into trouble with the government.”

STAFFING SHORTAGE

Mr Indimuli also warned that new schools may suffer a staffing shortage following another directive by the Teachers Service Commission to boards of management to recruit only graduate teachers.

At the same time, he said his team would call a meeting of headteachers, the Teachers Service Commission and ministry officials to discuss the KCSE results, but declined to comment on threats by the ministry to punish headteachers of schools that posted poor results, saying, “We cannot state our position until we meet and understand what happened.”

Last year’s results showed a drastic drop in the number of students attaining top grades, with only 141 managing straight A's and an unprecedented 33,000 attaining E, the lowest mark. An equally higher number scored D and below, meaning they are not eligible to join tertiary programmes.

DIFFERENT NEEDS

Alliance High School Principal David Kariuki said his school will comply with the guidelines but would table the issue for discussion at the next parents meeting to decide which provisions to do away with.

“Every home has its own different needs We will have to comply, but it will [consult] with parents and the school board,” he said.

Nakuru Boys High School Principal Mike Yator said that while the spirit of the law was well-meaning, national schools were being forced to run on meagre resources.

He said parents invest a lot in their children’s primary education in the hope that they will make it to national schools where high standards of education are expected, yet the sophisticated infrastructure at such institutions risks being run down because the new guidelines leave little room for raising cash for maintenance.

Mr Yator said he had proposed to the ministry to increase the amount allocated to national schools, which he said needed to charge between Sh70,000 and Sh80,000 annually to operate effectively.

SPREAD THE CHARGES

The current structure provides for annual tuition fees of Sh53,554 for children in boarding schools, Sh9,370 for day schools and Sh37,210 for special-needs institutions.

Schools are required to spread the charges over three school terms at the ratio of 50:30:20. Any variation must be approved by the Cabinet secretary.

Kenya National Union of Teachers (Knut) Secretary-General Wilson Sossion said 37 per cent of teachers were being paid by parents and therefore school fees would have to go up to meet the cost.

“School budgets are informed by school needs as analysed by management and parents and most of the costs go up every year.

"The ministry should provide budgets for hiring teachers which should be sent to counties and released to schools on the basis of specific needs,” said Mr Sossion.

PERILS 'ONE-MAN-SHOW'

Knut’s Nyeri executive secretary Mutahi Kahiga said fees should be captured in law “to ensure the reforms do not appear like a one-man show”.

While supporting a crackdown on principals defying fees guidelines, he expressed fears that if Dr Matiang’i is moved to a different ministry the guidelines would be ignored.

“It will be a case similar to that of John Michuki, who brought sanity in the matatu sector and once he was transferred madness resumed. The change should be institutionalised,” he said.

Reporting by Ouma Wanzala, Joseph Openda, Eric Matara, Benson Amadala, Barrack Oduor and Derick Luvega.