Private schools have suspended salaries for their teachers over the coronavirus period but will not sack them.
The Kenya Private Schools Association said schools intended to keep going as far as they reasonably could but decried the lack of money for the second month now.
KPSA chief executive officer Peter Ndoro said schools will not terminate teachers’ contracts.
The government closed schools on March 15 to stop the spread coronavirus.
“In the absence of students, private schools have no source of income. No teacher is losing their job but it will be hard to continue paying salaries in full,” Ndoro told the Star.
Concerns already exist that teachers across the country are not well-prepared for the havoc the virus outbreak will cause in the education sector.
Another challenge is that many schools had not received the full amount of first term fees from students.
“Most schools are flexible in fee payment. Parents pay in tranches and in most schools the first term dues had yet to be met,” Ndoro said.
"We have engaged financial institutions so that they may also review termly loan repayment programmes and push them to the next term."
Kenya Union of Post Primary Education Teachers secretary general Akello Misori, however, suggested that the institutions could be listed to receive help from the government.
“If schools do not get fees, then families of teachers will face difficulties. This is a sector the government should look at and consider how they can come in,” Misori said.
He said education was an essential service and private schools supplement the government shortfall and should be supported during the pandemic.
However, Ndoro said it would not be practical to ask for money from the government to pay teachers’ salaries.
Ruth Mungai, a teacher at a private school in Nairobi, said she along with 16 colleagues were told they won't get be paid for the next two months.
Edited by Henry Makori
