The Kenya Secondary School Heads Association chairman Kahi Indimuli has asked school principals to reduce the uniform fee for the incoming Form 1 class.
Indimuli said parents had complained about exploitation by school principals, who he said are reportedly charging more than Sh20,000 for uniforms.
"I hear some principals have sent out admission letters to the incoming students and they are demanding up to Sh29,000 for uniforms alone. That is more than a term's fee and it is unreasonable," he said.
He was speaking at the ongoing 45th Kessha conference in Mombasa on Thursday.
"We are human beings with a human face. Let us revise those admission letters so that some small things don't lock out some learners from joining our schools," the Machakos High School head said.
He lauded the principals who have created endowment funds and those who source funds to pay for poor learners.
Indimuli warned that those headteachers who will be found to be going against the Ministry of Education's requirements will carry their own cross.
"Most of you are good people, but there are those who do some things which put the public against us. In as much as I take the blame for you, I request the public to point out the individual principals who do that," he said.
Some of the decisions by a few school principals, Indimuli said, had even made some MPs call for the abolishment of school uniforms because they are unreasonably expensive, they said.
Recently, the principals came under fire for suggesting a fee increase of Sh16,000.
They want the parents to pay Sh8,000 and the government to pay the additional Sh8,000 by stepping up its capitation amount from the current Sh22,244 to Sh30,000 per student in a year.
However, Kenya National Parents' Association chairperson Nicholas Maiyo quickly opposed the proposals.
“Principals should use the funds they receive first and account for it,” he said.
(edited by Amol Awuor)
