Kenya’s secondary college principals are sounding the alarm: with out pressing intervention, colleges might shut down because of crushing money owed brought on by insufficient capitation funds. Their proposed resolution? Raising college charges by as much as Ksh 27,000 yearly—a transfer that may push schooling additional out of attain for almost all of Kenyan households.
This proposal exposes a deeper, extra troubling query: the place does the cash we pay in taxes go? Kenya’s taxpayers contribute billions to the federal government, but public colleges are crumbling below monetary pressure. The authorities boasts about financial progress, however relating to funding vital providers, the cash is mysteriously absent. How can a authorities that collects trillions in taxes fail to totally fund secondary schooling?
The Burden on Parents: Who Can Afford This Hike?
The actuality is stark—if charges rise by Ksh 27,000, over 80% of fogeys might be unable to afford secondary schooling for his or her youngsters. This isn’t hypothesis; it’s a reality grounded in Kenya’s harsh financial realities. The value of residing has skyrocketed, wages stay stagnant, and unemployment is rampant. Asking struggling dad and mom to fork out an additional Ksh 27,000 per yr is akin to condemning their youngsters to a way forward for illiteracy and poverty.
Education isn’t a luxurious; it’s a constitutional proper. The Kenyan authorities, below Article 43 of the Constitution, is obligated to offer free and obligatory fundamental schooling. Yet, as an alternative of accelerating capitation funding to make sure colleges function easily, it’s as soon as once more shifting the burden to odd residents.
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Government Incompetence: A Crisis of Priorities
Kenya’s monetary mismanagement isn’t new, however the state of affairs in colleges highlights its worst results. Billions are wasted on inflated tenders, ghost initiatives, and pointless international journeys whereas vital sectors like schooling are left to rot.
- The Social Health Insurance Fund (SHIF) is being pressured down Kenyans’ throats with no readability on the way it will operate.
- Billions are spent on non-essential authorities places of work and presidential advisors, whereas college students sit on damaged desks in underfunded colleges.
- Government officers drive fuel-guzzling convoys whereas colleges lack fundamental infrastructure.
This isn’t just incompetence; it’s negligence of the best order. Why ought to struggling dad and mom be pressured to pay extra whereas the federal government wastes cash on luxuries? The reply is easy: these in energy don’t care in regards to the frequent mwananchi.
The Solution: Increase Capitation, Not Fees
The solely viable resolution is for the federal government to extend college capitation funding as an alternative of elevating charges. Schools ought to obtain sufficient sources to function with out pushing the burden onto dad and mom. This requires the federal government to:
- Immediately launch all pending capitation funds to colleges directly.
- Reallocate funds from wasteful authorities expenditures to immediately assist schooling.
- Audit and get rid of corruption in schooling financing to make sure each shilling advantages college students.
- Cap college charges completely to forestall arbitrary will increase that lock out poor college students.
Final Question: Where Is Our Money?
The authorities should account for the taxes it collects. Before asking dad and mom to pay extra, the Ministry of Education and Treasury should clarify why, regardless of amassing trillions, our colleges are nonetheless struggling. Until then, any try to lift charges needs to be seen for what it’s—a betrayal of the Kenyan youngster.
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