School fees: is it right for parents to pay
more than government?
By MUNGAI KIHANYA
The Sunday Nation
Nairobi,
10 January 2016
Can a public secondary school operate properly while charging Sh53,554
per year stipulated by the Ministry of Education? Having been a member
the Board of Management (BoM) of a
This year, our school is charging a gross total of Sh53,080 – inclusive
of building/development and Parents-Teachers Association (PTA) funds.
The Sh53,544 set by the government does NOT include the additional
costs.
However, I must emphasise that every school is unique and has its own
peculiar needs. So, it would be unreasonable to expect all of them to
charge the same amount. My honest view is that those that ask for more
than the Sh53,554 are NOT doing so illegally.
After all, section 6 of the third Schedule in the Basic Education Act
(2013) allows the Parents’ Association to: (c) discuss, explore and
advise the parents on ways to raise funds for the physical development
and maintenance; (e) discuss and recommend charges to be levied on
pupils or parents; (f) undertake and oversee development projects on
behalf of the whole Parents Association.
All the so-called “extra fees” fall under these categories. Good schools
are good because they have good facilities. But the government does not
provide enough money to build such facilities. So the parents, being
responsible citizens, take it upon themselves to raise the funds. I
suspect that a large number of those complaining do not have children in
public schools and, if they do, they hardly attend parents meetings.
Nevertheless, while the school fees debate is important, I don’t think
it is going in the right direction. To be more productive, we asked what
role the government plays in the running of schools.
The stipulated fees shows the government contributes Sh12,870 and
parents Sh53,544. Is it right for parents to pay four times what the
state is paying?
I do recognize that teachers’ salaries are not included in the fees, yet
these are the single highest cost. These are paid by the government
through the Teachers Service Commission (TSC).
According to the latest Basic Education Statistical Booklet (2014),
there are about 2 million pupils in public secondary schools and 70,000
TSC teachers. That is, approximately 29 pupils per teacher.
Now, in the TSC pay scales, the median gross monthly salary of a
secondary school teacher is about Sh60,000; that is, Sh720,000 per year.
Each teacher has an average of 29 pupils, so the government (TSC)
contribution per student is about Sh24,000 per annum.
Therefore, the government contributes a total of Sh36,000 (Sh12,870 plus
Sh24,000 for TSC teachers) while the parents are expected to put in
Sh53,000 (excluding school development funds).
So the question still remains: Is it right for parents to pay more than
the government? I don’t think it is and this is the direction that the
school fees debate should take if we want to make any meaningful
progress.
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