• Effective learning cannot be sustained without more funds, headteachers say
•100% transition has caused a litany of problems and dangerous overcrowding, one teacher handles 60-80 students in a class
Conditions in secondary schools are dire, dangerously congested and getting worse.
Parents will have to pay higher fees to improve learning and accommodate 100 per cent transition, principals told Parliament yesterday. That will be the end of free Free Day Secondary Education.
The school population has risen from last year’s 2.6 million learners to 2.8 million. In many schools, staff, classes, labs and boarding facilities are inadequate.
Schools are underfunded, teachers are in short supply, it's common for one to teach a class of 60 learners and infrastructure is inadequate and decrepit. Tent classrooms, converted cafeterias and triple -layer bunk beds are not uncommon, hriple
Secondary school principals want the least paying schools — day schools — to be charged Sh28,501, meaning parents must pay Sh6,257, apart from the capitation given by the government.
The government provides Sh22,244 as capitation to every student in public secondary school, an amount equal to that charged as school fees in day schools.
Headteachers yesterday proposed to Parliament 's Education committee that National Schools be required to pay Sh69,402 compared to the Sh53,554 currently charged.
Extra County Schools would be charged Sh58,208, up from Sh40,435.
County schools would pay Sh47,972, up from the current Sh40,435.
Head teachers say the extraordinary enrollments could lead to high stress and anxiety among students, warning the situation could be untenable in the second term characterised by strikes. Student unrest is also possible, they said.
Should conditions remain unimproved, there could be unrest in the second term, just a month away.
Kenya Secondary Schools Heads Association chairman Indimuli Kahi told the committee schools have had to defy ministry guidelines to charge extra levies to sustains learning.
"Some schools are forced to convert dining halls to dormitories and pay for tents as makeshift classrooms," Kahi said.
He said crowding has exposed students to communicable diseases.
Headteachers warned the increased number of students has pushed schools 'to the wall' and risk grounding operations.
"Our water bills, electricity bills, and sewerage bills have really escalated. We have schools paying as much as Sh800,000 for electricity per month. This eats into already depleted funds," Kahi said.
Represented by their association, principals have revealed that schools are suffering from slashed budgets as the government retains almost half of the capitation.
This means principals are left with inadequate funds to pay a pile of bills and expenses.
Limited resources have hurt learning.
Some schools have exceeded the recommended teacher-student ratio of 1:40 to 1:60. In dire situations, it is 1:80. Some students learn on verandas, others under trees and on mud floors.
Some institutions have three-layer bunk beds.
"The minimum class has about 60 students. This does not support effective teaching," Kahi said.
The Teachers Service Commission estimates that 80,000 more teachers are required.
"At the moment, we are forced to either employ teachers on Board of Management terms or to allow one teacher to handle a very high number of students," Kahi said.
The heads have called for special tariffs on electricity and water bills in order to cut down on the cost.
Edited by Victoria Graham.