Principals risk dismissal for defying Grade 10 admission directive

Education CS Julius Ogamba [HANDOUT]

The government has issued a stern warning following reports that some schools are flouting a presidential directive to admit Grade 10 learners without uniforms or school fees.

Education Cabinet Secretary Julius Ogamba said principals found to have defied the directive would face tough administrative action, including dismissal.

“We are informing the principals, and this needs to go out very clearly. The government has already released capitation to the schools,” Ogamba said.

“If, for example, you have admitted 700 students and then you have four or five who have not paid fees or do not have school uniform, these four or five cannot make it impossible for you to run the school,” he added.

Ogamba said the Ministry of Education was working with the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) to identify schools that have sent learners away, noting that data collection from the field had already begun.

“The principals need to support the directive of the government. We are working with TSC and, from today, data is being collected from the field.

"Should we find any principal who has returned a child home for the reason of not having paid school fees or not having school uniform, action will be taken through the employer, TSC, including dismissal from their jobs,” he said.

The Cabinet Secretary was speaking after attending a development partners’ roundtable on education financing at the Radisson Blu Hotel in Upper Hill, Nairobi.

He reiterated that schools should rely on capitation funds disbursed at the start of the term to bridge any temporary funding gaps for learners yet to pay fees.

Ogamba clarified that the Sh4.4 billion capitation released to schools on January 2 represents 50 per cent of the annual allocation of Sh22,244 per learner, with the balance to be disbursed in subsequent terms using a 50:30:20 ratio—50 per cent in first term, 30 per cent in second term and 20 per cent in third term.

“That amount is to sustain students for the first term of this academic year. Issues on whether we are going to release more money are conversations that we will have after we look at what can be done, considering the budgetary constraints that exist. If there is a possibility of adding more money, we will work towards that,” he said.

Last week, President William Ruto directed that no child should be kept out of school due to lack of fees, saying the government had set aside sufficient funds to ensure learners report to school.

“I am directing that no child should stay at home because of school fees. Every child must go to school because we have set funds aside to educate our children,” Ruto said.

“There is sufficient money for teachers and for our children to be taught in the first term.”

The President spoke on Thursday, January 22, during the launch of the Nyota programme in Meru.

Ogamba said the admission window for Grade 10 learners had been extended until the end of this week to allow those yet to report to do so.

By Thursday last week, he said, the transition rate stood at 92 per cent, meaning 90,437 of the 1,130,459 learners who sat the inaugural Kenya Junior School Education Assessment (KJSEA) were yet to report to senior schools.

“So the eight per cent is the team that we are working with the Ministry of Interior to ensure that we mop them up and they go to school, so they are not a large number,” he said.