The Ministry of Education should come up with new ways of implementing the school fees guidelines and save parents from rogue school heads.
It is reported that the school fees guidelines given by the ministry have not only been flouted by many schools but there are so many hidden costs.
School heads are siphoning money from helpless parents through uniforms, "motivation" money and remedial fees.
Principals have become entrepreneurs who are capitalizing on everything to make money from parents while some schools are formulating rules to make money from parents.
For instance, schools are compelling parents to purchase uniforms from certain dealers or the school at exorbitant prices.
It is said that these dealers collude with school heads to get kickbacks from them.
Stationeries are another way principals are using to con parents. They compel parents to buy them from a certain dealer where they get kickbacks or exaggerate the prices and force parents to buy them from the school.
Remedial classes were banned by the ministry but schools are conducting them and charging parents. "Motivation" fees is also another cost that is burdening parents for nothing.
Schools have turned into business enterprises thus making education too costly.
Shockingly, parents are still suffering at the hands of unscrupulous school heads yet there are education officers responsible for enforcing education policies.
Are education officers conspiring with school heads? Are these officers incompetent or they are sleeping on their jobs?
The constitution provides that every child should access basic education and the government has the primary responsibility to ensure that this happens.
While the government capitation for every learner and 100 per cent transition to secondary school are good measures to ensure that there is access to basic education, the illegal fees are forcing many students out of schools.
The high cost of basic education is not only a deprivation of a right, but it is also a setback to the country’s economic development bearing in mind that education is at the centre of a country’s growth.
The ministry should up their game and rescue innocent parents whose cries seem to land on deaf ears of regional education officers.
Education is paramount and should not be left to cartels. Neither should it be left to unresponsive regional education officers.
The writer is an Environmental blogger and Journalist
Edited by Kiilu Damaris
