Looming crisis in schools as teachers' union says only Ksh.4K per student released

Secondary school principals are warning of serious management challenges due to delayed disbursements of capitation funds.

They say only Ksh.4,000 per student has been released, far below the required Ksh.8,000 for this term.

The Ministry of Education was expected to have disbursed Ksh.28 billion by this time, representing 50% of total capitation funds. A month after the school term began, only Ksh.14 billion has been made available.

The school principals have raised concerns about system failures, with some students not properly captured, leading to reduced disbursements for certain schools.

One principal, who spoke to Citizen TV on condition of anonymity, revealed that they received only Ksh.2.6 million instead of the expected Ksh.10 million for the first 50% disbursement of the term.

The principal expressed concern about how schools are expected to run effectively with such limited funding.

"We have been asking principals to determine the percentage that has been released, but they haven’t been able to because the ministry sprinkled money into the schools’ accounts and said they have paid. So we are looking for bearing on how to cost what they have paid because we expected 50%, but it is not even 10%,” KUPPET Deputy SG Moses Nthurima said.

School heads have also raised concerns about what they have described as doctored Form Three numbers, where the data at the Ministry of Education reflects fewer students than are actually enrolled at some schools.

This discrepancy has led to financial strain, as the ministry is releasing less money than needed to accommodate the actual student population.

"There has been a problem. When the ministry is about to release the money, they ask the principals to send the data, and before the data reaches the ministry, the money is released using the old data. You have 600 learners, and they release funds for 350,” Nthulima added.

According to the ministry, they have released Ksh.14 billion, which accounts for about 20-25% of the expected amount. However, schools were anticipating 50% for this term, amounting to Ksh.28 billion.

KUPPET is also urging the Treasury to release more than Ksh.11 billion in medical capitation funds owed to their employer, which has accumulated over the past six months.

"There is a threat because whenever teachers attend hospitals, there are all manner of reasons given by service providers. Sometimes they are delayed from getting services, and other hospitals have already written that they are not serving teachers,” said Nthulima.

"That leaves teachers to go to kiosk-like hospitals. So we are urging Minet to take teachers’ medical cover seriously and stop immediately the conversion of those good hospitals into referrals because that denies teachers access to them,” KUPPET National Secretary Edward Obwocah stated.

The school heads say the delay in disbursing capitation is causing an accumulation of pending bills in schools, further straining their operations.