How parents spend Sh1.5 billion on school reports annually

By MUNGAI KIHANYA

The Sunday Nation

Nairobi,

29 April 2007

Ndungu Kahigha notes that parents have to collect report forms from schools instead of “the old cost-effective way of handing it to the pupil”. He requests for a computation of a national estimate as to how much money is lost in transport, the man-hours lost and the average worth of the man-hours.”

Let’s start with some assumptions: this mainly affects primary schools; there are about 8 million pupils at this level; some parents have more than one child in the same school therefore, take an average of one and a half pupils per parent giving 5.3 million parents; the average distance to the school is 10km (20km return journey); the school visit lasts 30 minutes and the journey takes one hour (to and fro); the transport cost is Sh50 (round trip).

With those assumptions, we find that this simple trip costs the nation a total of Sh265 million in bus fare every term or about Sh800 million per year. 5.3 million people spending one and a half hours works out to about 8 million man-hours per term (24 million per year)

Assuming an average earning of Sh7,500 per month (or Sh250 per day or Sh30 per hour), the time spent in collecting the reports is worth about Sh700 million in lost work per year.

Thus the total national cost is about Sh1.5billion per year. But perhaps the more important question is whether this money is being wasted. I don’t think so: the visit gives the parent an opportunity to talk to the teacher and get an opinion of how the pupil is “doing” (not “performing”) at school – is he talkative, playful, depressed, friendly, boring etc? These things cannot be captured in a report form and they contribute to the total development of the child.

Still on the subject of work and man-hours, Gideon Kiongo has sent in the following tale about a person who asked for a day off at work. The boss replied: “So, you want a day off, let us look at what you are asking for.

“There are 365 days per year available for work. There are 52 weeks per year in which you already have two days off per week leaving 261 days available for work. Since you spend 16 hours away from work, you have used up 170 days leaving 91 days available. You spend 30 minutes each day on tea break and that accounts for 23 days each year, leaving 68 days.

“With one hour lunch break period each day, you have used up another 48 days leaving only 22 days available for work. You normally spend 2 days per year on sick leave. This leaves you only 20 days. There are 5 public holidays per year, so your are now down to 15 days. We generously give you 14 days leave per year which leaves you with only 1 day available for work and I strongly suggest that you do not take that day off!”