The journey ahead is not looking any better for school heads and principals as public schools risk sliding into the same ditch as public universities.

Kenya Secondary Schools Heads Association (KESSHA) Chairperson Kahi Indimuli, foresees a situation where principals will soon be dragged to court by non-teaching staff for failing to pay salaries and remitting statutory deductions.

The situation is compounded by the fact the schools owe suppliers millions of shillings in pending bills even as Basic Education Principal Secretary Belio Kipsang promised that funds will be wired to respective school accounts by September 20.

The government owes public schools Sh29 billion. The Ministry of Education now says it has received Sh16.2 billion as capitation funds from the National Treasury for disbursement to public primary, junior and senior secondary schools.

“The ministry wishes to assure all schools that the funds will be wired to respective school accounts by September 20,” Dr Kipsang said. The delay to release the funds, Indimuli said had put a strain on head teachers and principals as they struggle to look for alternative ways of surviving.

He expressed fears that the funding gap might throw in disarray preparations for national exams set to start next month when Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) candidates will sit for their exams followed by those sitting for Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE).

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A total of 903,260 students are slotted to sit their KCSE, 1.42 million students for KCPE, while 1.28 million students will sit the second Grade Six Kenya Primary School Education Assessment (KPSEA) under the Competence-Based Curriculum.

“We have schools that have gone for more than four months without paying salaries for non-teaching staff, and this is turning schools into bad employers,” said the KESSHA boss.

Further, several public schools are battling the burden of hefty penalties accrued from non-remittance of statutory deductions.

“We are supposed to deduct and remit some statutory deductions such as NSSF, NHIF and a delay in remittance attracts a penalty. Many schools are currently being weighed down by very hefty penalties, and principals fear being taken to court by school employees for not remitting their deductions,” decried Indimuli.

According to the chief principal of Machakos School, sub-county schools that solely rely on the government for capitation, are the worst hit.

“You can imagine this is the fourth week since schools opened and we have not yet received the money. It is even harder for sub-county schools that rely on the government for capitation,” said Indimuli.

Under Free Primary Education (FPE) and Free Day Secondary Education (FDSE) policies, the government gives Sh1,420 and Sh22,244 as capitation funds for primary and secondary school learners respectively.

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The monies are meant for the day-to-day running of the school, including purchasing tuition and learning materials, salary payments, and settling other utility bills. Any delay means both day and boarding public schools are unable to meet most of their financial obligations.

The funds are to be disbursed in the ratio of 50:30:20 across the three terms of the year. But this has not been the case due to persistent delays.

School heads are now blaming the Treasury and the Ministry of Education for the hole they find themselves in. They are accusing the two ministries of playing ping pong while they remain under extreme pressure from learners, staff, parents and suppliers.

Oliver Minishi, former principal of Nanyuki High School weighed into the debate, accusing the government of not being sincere and serious on the capitation issue.

It is also emerging that some head teachers are securing loans from banks to ensure their schools remain afloat as they wait for the government to disburse funds. “Some of us are ensuring that the schools are running even with our own money. With the hope that we can recover the money when the government releases capitation,” said a principal who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Over the last two years, the government has not honoured the 50:30:20 funding formula and instead released monies on a quarterly basis.

Headteachers and principals are linking their woes to the quarterly funding, which they say is not tenable. Kenya Primary Schools Heads Association Chairman Johnson Nzioka urged the government to be clear about the funds to avoid confusion.

Grace Maina, a parent at Moi Girls Eldoret blamed government officials for the confusion in their communication.

At least Sh9.6 billion has finally been released as capitation to Junior Secondary Schools (JSS).

The government has also disbursed 15 million textbooks for JSS.

Principal Secretary for Basic Education Belio Kipsang said the Ministry of Education released the amount to implement the Junior Secondary Schools programme across the country.

Speaking at Sacred Heart Mukumu Girls High School on Wednesday, Kipsang said the government has made good progress in terms of stabilising the JSS programme.

“I want to say that at the beginning of the week, we released Sh9.6 billion capitation to Junior Secondary Schools and I can tell the public that the government is making good progress in terms of settling down the JSS,” said the PS.

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“We are at 80 per cent in terms of books distribution to JSS, on Monday we distributed 15 million books out of the 18 million books that are required for our Grade Seven learners,” added Kipsang.

According to Kipsang, the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) has so far posted 30,000 teachers that were earlier recruited.

“We are settling the issue of Junior Secondary School and we believe by the time our kids return from Easter holidays Grade Seven learners will be fully settled down. And by the time we close schools, the government will have fully settled the matter of JSS,” said Kipsang.

Distribution of the textbooks had earlier been delayed by Sh6 billion debt three weeks ago.

Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development (KICD) Director Charles Ong’ondo said that the remaining 20 per cent was due to data error.

Prof Ong’ondo added that the problem was that some students from private schools that were not approved to host JSS moved to approved public schools.

“In some parts of the country like Western Kenya, students were transferred to public schools and we are forced to ensure the learners get the textbooks from their current schools” explained Ong’ondo.

According to him, the Sh9.6 billion capitation money will offset the Sh4.2 billion debt for textbooks.

Last month, the government was yet to pay the Sh3 billion balance owed to publishers after they distributed Grade Six books last year.

Another Sh3.2 billion is yet to be released to facilitate printing and distribution of 18.3 million Grade Seven textbooks.

Kenya Literature Bureau, East African Education Publishers, Jomo Kenyatta Foundation, MountainTop, Storymoja, Moran, Spotlight and Longhorn are some of the publishers contracted to print and distribute books to public schools.

In Kakamega, head teachers interviewed confirmed to have received the textbooks. Kakamega Primary School head Dickson Wanyangu said they have already received the last batch of JSS textbooks.

“We received the last batch of Mathematics and Social Studies textbooks this week and I can confirm that almost all learners,” said Wanyangu.

The Ministry of Education has asked all public schools to acknowledge that they have received capitation funds, whenever they do, or they will not receive the funds until they acknowledge it. Only those schools that acknowledge this, either through National Education Information Management System (NEMIS) or manually, will continue receiving support from the government.

The ministry, through a circular dated April 28 and signed by Dr. Julius Jwan, the Principal Secretary for Basic Education, disclosed that there were concerns raised from the 2021-2022 audit review that most schools across the country have not acknowledged receipt of funds disbursed by the government.

Schools that have not acknowledged receipt of funds have therefore been given up to May 7 to do so either through a letter to the ministry or through NEMIS.

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Currently, in Kenya, the government funds each student in public schools to a tune of Sh. 22,244 per year. That means about Sh 7,400 per quarter, which is calculated by the number of students each school has in order to get the figure that schools receive annually.

In April, during the Kenya Secondary School Heads Association (KESSHA) annual conference held in Mombasa, school heads led by their Chairman, Indimuli Kahi requested the government to raise the figure from Sh. 22,244 to Sh.30,000 for each student.

These capitations came through the free education initiative brought by the third president of Kenya, the late Mwai Kibaki which begun when he took office in January 2003.

About 10,000 public secondary schools and over 25,000 public primary schools are beneficiaries of the government capitation.

Private schools expressed interest in government funding and now want students to be placed in their institutions to reduce congestion in public schools.

The association chairperson Mutheu Kasanga said the overload faced by public schools in first term due to placement can easily be dealt with if private schools were formally considered by government.

“The capitation is a right and it’s a matter of when and not if. There’s no such thing as a private or public child, they all need access to quality education,” she said.

Parent’s association chairman Nicholas Maiyo however challenged private schools to adhere to fees regulations set by government if they want capitation.

“In public schools, we pay for boarding and lunch fees, the rest like examination and tuition are paid by government. Will private schools accept to be regulated by the ministry? For example, schools that charge Sh600,000 per term, can they accept to trim down their fees? No, of course they cannot,” Maiyo said.

Mutheu said including private schools in Form 1 placement will help solve congestion in public schools.

“Public schools are full, when will the government say they are ready for a public/private partnership to alleviate problems,” she said.

She added that education should embrace public/private partnerships just like other sectors including infrastructure and roads.

“Capitation should also work the same way, they give the sector funds but whatever is on top the parents will pay and then audits are done. If government is doing it on things like roads and infrastructure then they can also do it for schools,” she added.

With 1,600 private secondary schools, private schools are able to accommodate 307,000 students.

The move to ensure 100 per cent transition in secondary schools has seen public schools face congestion in classes and dormitories.

Students interested in joining private schools are required to apply after the release of KCPE exam results.

Government released funds to cater for tuition and food, each secondary school student was allocated Sh23,000 to cater for their needs, including lunch and school uniform.

In total, each learner in all public secondary schools receives Sh22,244 per year under the government’s Free Day Secondary Education programme.

Of this, Sh9,400 is used for operations including Personal Emoluments.