• Headteachers would do well to reach a deal with parents as to how the arrears will be cleared without sending students back home.
• We are in no doubt the headteachers will make with what little they can put together to get the schools running.
Education CS George Magoha on Saturday told school principals to spare long suffering parents extra fees as schools reopen.
His order arose from complaints some schools are charging more than Sh20,000 for uniforms, while some parents are told to pay for tuition.
He also told teachers not to send any student or stop them from getting to class on account of fees arrears. Magoha order's couldn't have come at a more opportune time.
The cost living is through the roof, millions of parents have lost their jobs. The pandemic hit the economy hard.
Principals have lamented about the burden of fees arrears they grapple with because parents and guardians hardly pay fees on time.
Headteachers would do well to reach a deal with parents as to how the arrears will be cleared without sending students back home.
Magoha is a hands on minister who means well and we are in no doubt the headteachers will make with what little they can put together to get the schools running.
The warning is welcome and timely because we live in a country where corruption has been institutionalised and it is not beyond some few unscrupulous teachers to exploit an ignorant parent.
And even as school administrators are advised not levy new charges or send students home, there is already an outcry about the scandal of parents being ordered to buy uniforms from preferred dealers.
Magoha has largely scared exam leakage networks out of town.
Before leaving office later in the year, he should dismantle the headteachers and uniform vendors nexus to save parents money and stop the deals teachers enter with suppliers.