The public accounts committee has grilled the ministry of education over a non-recovered overpayment of more than ksh. 105M to some public schools which occurred three years ago.

Ministry of education principal Secretary Julius Jwan confessed before the committee that More than Sh105 million in capitation funds irregularly overpaid to some public secondary schools three years ago is yet to be recovered.

The scandal, which has been benefiting 331 schools for the last three years, has not stopped despite audit reports.

The report shows that the over payment arose from “inflation of enrollment numbers and double payment to schools” among other factors.

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The chair of the committee Ugunja MP Opiyo Wandayi wanted to know how much has been recovered since the report was released in March. “Has the ministry taken any action and how much has been recovered so far?” asked Wandayi.

“The statement of receipts and payments reflects a balance of more than Sh59,633,897,605 being subsidies for the year ended June 30, 2019. Included in this amount is an over payment of subsidy funds amounting to Sh105,905,782 to 331 public secondary schools in different counties arising from inflated enrollment data,” read part of the report.

Jwan however told the legislators they are still in the process of recovering the said funds but no process has been undertaken yet.

The MPs felt disappointed with the Juan’s response when they sought to know why it has been business as usual in the ministry three years down the line, with millions of shillings being injected.

“Are you trying to say you have forgotten about the over payment that happened three years ago? Yet, there are people from the ministry benefiting from this money?” asked Garissa Town MP Aden Duale.

Director of Primary Education Olicia Nerregah said they are in the process of making the recoveries but they are facing challenges including slow transition of some schools to register learners in the new National Education Information Management System (Nemis) making it difficult to have accurate data.

Early this week, a section of parents, led by Gilgil MP Martha Wangari, raised complaints over exaggerated uniform prices by school principals and how schools con parents through uniforms.

It has emerged that some secondary school principals have turned uniforms for Form One students into a cash cow and are forcing parents to buy the kits at inflated prices in select stores.

According to sources, one of the reasons why this occurs in most schools is because the principals are under pressure from the government to stick to the official school fees policy, forcing them to craft ways of milking parents.

In response to the allegations, the Ministry of Education has termed the schemes as conspiracies that should stop. Principal secretary in the ministry of education, Dr. Julius Juan, faulted the school heads for insisting that parents buy uniforms from specific shops or from the institutions.

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“Parents should not be forced to buy uniforms at specific shops. It is important to provide the colours and leave the parents to choose where to buy them from. These conspiracies should top,” said Education Principal Secretary Julius Jwann.

In some schools, parents are asked to pay up to Sh25,000 for uniforms, even as it emerged that the market price for the same items would be three times less in the open-air market. In addition, the uniforms money is paid in cash at the institution, which means no child would be admitted without getting the mandatory items.

A week after more than one million children reported to Form One, a look at some of the admission letters reveals huge costs for uniforms some which are more than the full fees for the term.

A well known school asked parents to pay an additional Sh17,000 to buy basic items for use in school.

“For uniformity and self esteem, well being of students, equipment for boarding will be provided in school at Sh17,000 to cater for cup, spoon, plate, bed cover, pillow, two pillow cases, bed, a mattress, two heavy duty blankets, two pairs of bed sheets and lockers,” reads the admission letter.

The Government has considerably reduced the annual school fees paid in secondary schools by thousands of shillings.

This is due to the reduction of the number of weeks in the new academic year reduce from 39 to 30 because of the Covid-19 crisis.

Students in national and extra-county schools located in the following major towns will pay a maximum yearly fee of Sh45,000: Nairobi, Mombasa, Nakuru, Kisumu, Thika, Nyeri and Eldoret. This has been revised from the previous structure, in which the fee was around Sh55,000.

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The Principal Secretary for Basic Education Dr. Julius Jwan said, in a June 16 circular to all principals nationwide, that the new structures take effect from July 26, 2021 to March 4, 2022.

Students in county and sub-county secondary schools in other parts of Kenya besides the seven mentioned major towns will pay an annual maximum fee of Sh35,000.

Parents whose children are in special needs schools will now part with a maximum of Sh10,860 yearly.

The Government says each secondary school learner will receive a Sh22,244 subsidy yearly.

This amount of money will be disbursed in four installments across the year, with each quarterly payment by the State being Sh5,560.

The Sh22,244 remitted to each student’s account will cater for learning materials, medical insurance and activity charges.

“Following the shortened Academic Year from 39 weeks to 30 weeks, for the Academic Year commencing on July 26, 2021 to March 4, 2022, the Ministry of Education has revised fees guidelines payable by parents,” read the Juan’s letter to all school-heads.

The current fees charged on learners were set in 2015 by Kilemi Mwiria task force.

Mwiria’s team proposed that national and county boarding school students to pay a maximum of Sh53,553 each while schools with special needs to charge each student Sh32,600 per year.

Those in day schools were to be billed Sh9,374 per year.

This, the Government said, was to be spread over three terms in the ratio of 50:30:20.

Under the now-previous structure, the Government paid the full cost of Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education examination. This will continue in the new structure.

Prior to the Mwiria task force review, most of the established national boarding schools were charging between Sh100, 000 and Sh150,000 yearly. The Government was paying Sh12, 870 per student as a subsidy.

PS Jwan has warned principals against contravening the new fee structure by surcharging students or adding non-existent learners to the students’ register submitted to the Government for disbursement of funds.

“It is the responsibility of the principal to ensure accuracy of the data available on National Education Management Information Systems(NEMIS), where every learner is fully registered on the platform,” said the PS.

The senior Education official, however, said principals can ask for harambees in which each parent can pay a maximum of Sh2,000 per year.

The fundraising, he said, can only be organised when the school is seeking to upgrade immovable assets.