KUPPET: Only Ksh.4K Per Student Disbursed, Schools in Crisis.
Secondary school principals have raised alarms over significant management difficulties arising from delays in capitation fund disbursements.
They indicated that only Ksh.4,000 per student had been released, which was substantially lower than the required Ksh.8,000 for the current term.
The Ministry of Education had been expected to release Ksh.28 billion by this point, representing 50% of the total capitation funds. However, a month into the school term, only Ksh.14 billion had been made available.
School heads voiced concerns over system inefficiencies, stating that some students were not accurately captured, resulting in reduced allocations for certain institutions.
A principal who requested anonymity disclosed that instead of receiving the expected Ksh.10 million for the first half of the term’s disbursement, their school had only been allocated Ksh.2.6 million.
The principal questioned how schools were supposed to operate effectively under such financial constraints.
KUPPET Deputy Secretary General Moses Nthurima stated that principals had been attempting to determine the percentage of funds received.
However, he explained that the ministry had distributed funds inconsistently into school accounts, making it difficult to assess. He emphasized that while schools anticipated 50%, the amount received was not even 10% of the expected disbursement.
“We have been asking principals to determine the percentage that has been released, but they haven’t been able to because the ministry sprinkled money into the schools’ accounts and said they have paid.
“So we are looking for bearing on how to cost what they have paid because we expected 50%, but it is not even 10%,” the Kenya Union of Post Primary Education Teachers (KUPPET) Deputy SG Moses Nthurima said.
School administrators also expressed concerns over what they termed as manipulated Form Three student numbers, where Ministry of Education records showed fewer students than those actually enrolled.
This inconsistency had resulted in financial difficulties, as the ministry was allocating less funding than required to support the real student population.
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Moses Nthurima pointed out that issues arose when the ministry requested updated student data from principals, yet disbursements were still made based on outdated records. He cited cases where a school with 600 students only received funds for 350.
According to ministry figures, Ksh.14 billion had been disbursed, accounting for roughly 20-25% of the required amount. However, schools had been anticipating 50%, which equaled Ksh.28 billion for the term.
KUPPET: Only Ksh.4K Per Student Disbursed, Schools in Crisis.
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