Misery for hundreds who’ll miss Form One for lack of fees

Parents with their children queue to buy school uniforms at School Outfitters outlet along Muindi Mbingu Street in Nairobi on January 6, 2018. Students will be joining Form One beginning this Tuesday. PHOTO | JEFF ANGOTE | NATION

What you need to know:

  • The students – some who scored over 400 marks – and received admission letters to some of the country’s most prestigious schools, will not be able to report due to lack of fees.

  • On Saturday, parents across the country were busy doing shopping for their children ahead of joining secondary schools.

  • The Form One students will be issued with six textbooks — for Mathematics, English, Chemistry, Physics, Biology and Kiswahili.

  • Almost one million students are expected to join Form One between Tuesday and Thursday.

Hundreds of bright boys and girls might miss Form One places in national secondary schools as candidates who sat the Kenya Certificate of Primary Education examination report to school this week.

The students – some who scored over 400 marks – and received admission letters to some of the country’s most prestigious schools, will not be able to report due to lack of fees.

The students have until Friday to take up their positions failing which their slots will be taken up by other students whose parents can afford to pay.

On Saturday, parents across the country were busy doing shopping for their children ahead of joining secondary schools.

Uniform shops and bookshops in various towns were full and a number of parents had to queue outside.

And, despite the government’s promise that it will provide text books, several schools have asked parents to purchase extra textbooks for their children.

The Form One students will be issued with six textbooks — for Mathematics, English, Chemistry, Physics, Biology and Kiswahili.

INCREASED CAPITATION

And each primary school will receive five copies of the teacher’s guide for each subject while every secondary school will receive 10 copies of the teacher’s guide for each subject.

Almost one million students are expected to join Form One between Tuesday and Thursday.

According to acting Education Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i, the government is determined to facilitate distribution of textbooks directly to schools effective next month.

This means schools will no longer get the cash earmarked for textbooks as has been the case since the introduction of Free Primary and Free Day Secondary Education programmes in 2003 and 2008 respectively.

Last week, Dr Matiang’i maintained that the government had put in place measures to ensure 100 per cent transition from primary to secondary school levels.

“In particular, the government has introduced Free Day Secondary Education (FDSE) to, among other reasons, provide greater access to secondary school education and help delink admission to schools from bed capacity,” said Dr Matiang’i.

He said the government has provided an increased capitation of Sh22,244 per student per annum, from the previous Sh12,870, to cater for the total cost of day schooling.

MONEY RELEASED

“The government has already released Sh29.5 billion for Free Secondary Education for this year. The government has further launched a pilot for the day wing  programme in select schools in Nairobi County,” said Dr Matiang’i.

He directed school principals to adhere to school fees guidelines.

Parents are advised to only pay the amount in the fees structure and report incidents of any students turned being away for not paying the higher fees to their respective regional education coordinators, county directors of education and sub-county directors.

“The government has created adequate places for last year’s KCPE candidates to access secondary education. The government has dedicated infrastructural grants amounting to Sh 6.4 billion for the expansion of the capacities in 2,710 regular and 30 special needs secondary schools. This has led to the construction of 2,740 classrooms, 349 laboratories and 326 blocks for sanitation facilities, among others,” he said.

INDISCIPLINE FEARS

At the same time, a section of national schools selected by the Ministry of Education to have day streams  have expressed unpreparedness to admit the day scholars.

The schools have said the government gave them a short notice and will not be admitting day scholar students this year.

The schools are also expressing fears of indiscipline in schools as teachers may not be able to control the students.

Among the schools are Starehe Boys’ Centre and Moi Forces Academy.

Starehe Boys’ Centre director Charles Musheti said they will not admit day scholars this year.

“We are not yet prepared to take in day scholars this year. The ministry’s directive was on a short notice,” he said.

The school on Thursday held a meeting to discuss the way forward.

ADMIT BOARDERS

“After discussions we have decided to only admit boarders,” he said.

Sources also told the Nation that Moi Forces Academy, Nairobi, may not be admitting day scholars for fear of indiscipline in the school.

The Sunday Nation also established that several other national schools were uncomfortable with the directive.

The Ministry of Education selected 19 national schools in Nairobi to open day wings this year.

They include Kenya High, Starehe Boys’ Centre, Moi Forces Academy, Pangani Girls’ High School and Moi Girls’ Secondary School, Nairobi.

Others are Ngara Girls, Buruburu Girls, Embakasi Girls, Arya Parklands, Nembu Girls, Dagoretti High School, Langata Secondary, Upper Hill, St George’s Girls, State House, Hospital Hill and Ofafa Jericho.

Some schools such as State House Girls, Nairobi School and Lenana School, among others, are ready to admit the day scholars after receiving hundreds of applications.

DAY SCHOLARS

State House Girls’ School Principal Joan Muoti said they have places for only 90 Form One students as day scholars but they have received over 120 applications.

“We are grateful that the promises made by the Ministry of Education are being actualised and issues of staffing are being handled to ensure smooth running of schools and to ensure students’ needs are met,” said Mrs Muoti

Last month, Lenana School and Nairobi School advertised vacancies for day scholars. Several other schools have also advertised vacancies.

According to the ministry, the move is aimed at boosting capacity and delink admission to bed space under the free secondary education plan expected to increase Form One enrolment to above one million students.

While releasing last year’s KCPE results, Dr Matiang’i announced that all the 993,718 candidates will join secondary schools.

The number is a 25 per cent increase of the students that were admitted in secondary schools last year.  Last year 790,680 joined secondary schools across the country.

ACCESS EDUCATION

On Friday, President Uhuru Kenyatta said the government was committed to ensuring all children access education.

He said the government has already released about Sh30 billion for the free secondary school education for the next six months.

This is amid concerns over inadequate teachers, classrooms and materials.

On Wednesday, Dr Matiang’i said the ministry was putting in place interventions to ensure that more students are in school.

Dr Matiang’i said opening of the day wings in existing boarding schools, especially in Nairobi County, is meant to maximise use of available resources. 

MORE PLACES

Other interventions that the ministry is doing is expanding capacities of existing schools to create more places.

The ministry is yet to explain the criteria it used to select the schools.

The Kenya Union of Post-Primary Education Teachers secretary-general Akelo Misori said the decision to open day wings will enable more students to be in school.

“The government has already disbursed funds and textbooks have been released to schools. We hope all promises will be fulfilled,” he said.

The ministry plans to introduce the day wings in other national boarding schools across the country gradually.