Punish those who steal school funds

Free primary and subsidised secondary education remain the most outstanding government interventions as they opened doors to millions of children to go to school.

Until 2003, when the then Narc administration introduced free primary education and 2008 when the coalition government started subsidising secondary education, many children were locked out of school because they could not afford the numerous levies.

Enrolment has since soared from 5.9 million in 2002 to 10.2 million in 2015 in primary school and 800,000 in 2008 to 2.3 million in 2015 in secondary school.

Over that period, the government has committed some Sh100 billion to primary education.

However, a report by the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission gives damning evidence of financial mismanagement of the free schooling fund.

Billions of shillings cannot be accounted for as they have been stolen by headteachers and school boards.

When the programme first started, the government instituted fairly tight regulations over school funds, including requiring headteachers to post on noticeboards the sums received from the Treasury and the expenses incurred.

Parents had to be notified when books were bought and witness when they were being issued to pupils.

Schools were required to account regularly for the cash and auditors visited schools to inspect the books.

These requirements seem to have died and instead fraud is thriving in schools.

Procurement rules are hardly followed, commodity prices are inflated, account books are never checked, and headteachers give inflated enrolment figures to secure higher capitation grants. Consequently, many schools do not have facilities, books, and other teaching and learning resources despite the government’s subventions.

The government must prosecute those found to have stolen school funds.

The Education Ministry must enforce tight systems for dispensing, withdrawing, and accounting for the cash.