Schools to Close a Week Earlier Due to the Following Reasons
Schools to Close a Week Earlier Due to the Following Reasons. According to principals and headteachers, Public Primary and Secondary schools may end second term earlier.
Schools are scheduled to close on August 11, 2023, per the Ministry of Education’s school calendar.
But according to the school administrators, this won’t be possible if the government doesn’t distribute all of the capitation funds.
The institution lost roughly Sh5,000 since the government did not give schools their full capitation payment during the 2021/22 fiscal year.
Given that the government still owes Sh4,300 for every student, schools may experience the same fate this year (2022/2023).
According to Indimuli Kahi, chairman of the Kenya Secondary Schools Heads Association, schools run the possibility of not receiving these sections of government funds for free primary education and free day secondary education for a second consecutive year.
According to Indimuli, these funds have to be deposited prior to the term’s end. On August 12, schools will be out of session for a three-week vacation that ends on August 27.
The institutions will have two weeks to teach, learn, and administer the end-of-term exams.
The chairman of the Kenya Primary Schools Heads Association, Johnson Nzioka, claimed that because to the government’s underfunding of education, schools are having difficulty carrying out their daily activities.
In order to save money on some days when we wouldn’t otherwise have enough money to cover operations, he continued, “closing early will be one way to avoid a crisis.”
According to Indimuli, on June 12 the schools received a capitation of Sh4,150 per pupil.
According to Indimuli, “We did not receive the full capitation amount in the 2021/22 fiscal year, and we still have not received the full amount for the current fiscal year, 2022/23.”
Indimuli claimed that because of the ripple effect, schools are now in debt and have fewer resources available to support the entire student body.
“We are in a very delicate situation where schools are headed for the end-of-term exams which need some financing, we also need to pay the non-teaching staff,” he continued.
Primary Education However, Belio Kipsang said that all the funds had been distributed to the schools.
Kipsang made the following remarks at the conclusion of an international curriculum conference at the Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development (KICD):
“As far as we are concerned, we have sent all the money to schools.”
Following a meltdown by school administrators, Ezekiel Mochogu, the secretary of the education cabinet, announced in June that the government would release the capitation monies.
On Wednesday of last week, in response to inquiries from lawmakers, Machogu stated that there was a delay in the funding disbursement.
In order to release the monies, Machogu claimed to have spoken with Treasury.
Nzioka, however, claimed on Thursday that monies intended for the first term are still being given to schools.
The situation, according to Nzioka, “is not good at all. We are concerned that some of our school heads may be prosecuted for missing payments, and we hope that the Ministry of Education will give us legal support when this happens.”
According to him, the shortfall has forced schools to do a difficult balancing act when managing their operations, putting the free primary education program and, consequently, the free day secondary program in peril.
“The government hasn’t been giving schools their full allotment for a few years now. They reduce the amount while keeping other monies, making it difficult to administer schools, according to Nzioka.
According to Nzioka, the government only sent the capitation that was due in the first term.