The Much Awaited Sh17B Capitation Funds Finally Hit School Accounts Today!
A whopping 17 Billion Shillings have finally been sent to all public schools. This money is meant to take care of the government’s free primary and subsidized secondary education this academic year.
Public schools had faced an untold financial crisis following the delayed disbursement! Several schools had been unable to meet their basic financial obligations like paying salaries for the nonteaching staff and the suppliers.
Professor Magoha, the CS for Education, confirmed that a total of Sh14.2 billion of the funds would be directed towards subsidized secondary school education, while Sh 2.7 billion would be geared towards providing free primary education to the primary school kids in the republic.
Learners Should Not Be Sent Home!
Having released the FSE and FPE funds, the CS warned the school managers against sending the learners home for any levies!
Prof Magoha said, “Principals should dialogue with parents of learners with fee balances to find practical ways of clearing any arrears,”
This followed complaints from the school heads who had threatened to send the students back home to collect the much-needed school fees. The situation in schools was dire, a condition that had been exacerbated by the delayed government disbursement!
The bad situation on the ground was well captured by an anonymous teacher who observed that the government was giving too little too late.” A school with 200 students, and government funding, the 16,000 which goes to stationery: After buying the books, we have nothing left to pay subordinate staff”,
Despite this grim picture as painted by some teachers, the good professor, Magoha, took time to appreciate some head teachers who had put the interests of the learners first by not sending them home to collect the much-needed school fees in a statement below.
“Some day and boarding schools’ principals have retained children in schools even as we struggle and I want to commend them,” he said Magoha, advising parents in day schools to pay for the feeding program to enable learners to utilize time in school.
Disbursement Formular (FPE &FSE)
It should be noted that the Disbursement of capitation funds is done on a ratio of 50 percent for the first term, 30 percent, and 20 percent in the second and third terms respectively.
Each secondary school student receives Sh22,244 per year while each pupil receives Sh1,420.
While at it, the CS assured Kenyans of the state’s unmatched commitment to ensure that the more than 10,000 classrooms needed for the new Curriculum (CBC) are completed on or before the national elections scheduled for the 9th of August this year.
The CS said Mombasa and Nairobi were lagging in supporting the government’s effort to meet its target. “Nyanza region is leading, while we have a problem in Nairobi and Mombasa County. If we have commissioned classrooms in a remote area of Alego Usonga, why not here,” said the CS.