The Kenya School Heads Association has faulted the government for enforcing school fees guidelines gazetted in March last year ahead of their meeting with the Education Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i Tuesday.
Speaking to this writer on the phone Monday, KESSHA chairman John Awiti alleged that former Cabinet Secretary Jacob Kaimenyi did not consult with relevant stakeholders before publishing the guidelines.
Awiti also claimed that the government did not make certain considerations before making public the new schools fees criteria.
“The former CS acted in haste to publish the fees guidelines. He did not consider factors such as tenders which had already been given by the school heads to various contractors,” he said.
“Remember that different schools have their own history and culture of doing things based on their locations. You cannot tell a school that has scheduled to construct a good hall for instance to charge the same amount in fees as another which has no major projects scheduled for a similar time,” he added.
He further said the government did not consider the fact that schools serve different diets to their students, which imply a variation in costs.
“The government is wrong therefore to force us to adhere to such inconsiderate guidelines before listening to us,” concluded Awiti.
Matiang’i has scheduled a meeting with various education stakeholders and among issues to be discussed include the controversial Form One selection criterion and the alleged fee raise by school heads and boards of management.
The gazetted fees guidelines indicate that Sh9,374, Sh53,542 and Sh37,210 be charged annually in secondary day, boarding and special needs public schools respectively.