Thousands of students from various schools across the country are at risk of being sent home starting this week after the government delayed to disburse the necessary funds for the second quarter.
The risk has become apparent after the Kenya Secondary School Heads Association (KESSHA) expressed its dissatisfaction with the continued delays in the disbursement of funds.
The principals have protested peacefully but firmly over the non-payment of more than 21 billion Kenyan shillings, which has left several schools with mounting debts and forced them to make difficult decisions about resource allocation.
Last Saturday, in statements to the press, school administrators explained in detail how the delay in funding has begun to undermine the stability of their schools, compromising essential activities, from administrative processes to the maintenance of critical facilities.
In fact, the latest promise from the Ministry of Education is that next week will be the deadline, but the patience of school principals has run out, so starting this week, schools could close, at least secondary schools.
Education has always been one of the major problems in the management of this country, along with public health. Schools often lack continuity in the provision of essential services such as water and electricity, parents have to pay extra not only to provide food for school canteens, but often also have to take turns preparing meals, etc., with minimal maintenance and other services. Not to mention teaching.
According to the Minister of Education, Julius Ogamba, 30% of the national budget is allocated to education and there are very high costs and expensive programs (ipse dixit), which means that distribution inevitably suffers delays.