Heads of Secondary Schools call for an increase of capitation

Mombasa, Saturday July 1, 2023

KNA by Fatuma Said

The Kenya Heads of Secondary Schools Association (KESSHA) through their chairman, Indimuli Kahi has pleaded with the government to increase the capitation in public secondary schools and ensure it is disbursed in time.

Kahi said the Association suggests that the capitation should be increased from Sh 22,244, to Sh30,000 per student explaining that the increase in the cost of life and living equally affects schools.

Speaking during the 46th Annual National Conference of Principals and Exhibition, Kahi said that as the 5-day conference came to an end, the Heads of Schools came up with resolutions that they will forward to the government for consideration and implementation.

He said that the Association will support the Government’s policy to increase the forest cover in Kenya by having schools endeavor to plant more trees.

“We have also agreed that schools will start converting to the use of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) in the next two years,” Kahi said.

He said that this project will require financial support from the government for a full transition.

Kahi said that they will start from the onset by making preparations and identifications of the various pathways that each school can take, given guidance from the Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development (KICD) each school will therefore start looking at its manpower, and facilities and identify what pathways they can be able to undertake.

In another resolution, he said that the Association is pleading with the government to allocate more funds to the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) to be able to employ more teachers, particularly for the secondary sector.

“The government should be able to provide more funds to enable the schools to put in place measures to enhance health and safety measures in our schools,” Kahi reiterated.

Kahi urged Kenya National Examination Council (KNEC) to be empowered to take full responsibility for the credibility of the national examinations.

“We will endeavor as principals to collect the examination twice as the policy now requires, but we will need KNEC to assure us that on their part there is no malpractice,” Kahi added.

The Teachers Service Commission was also asked to scrap job group C4 so that teachers from C3 can be promoted to C5.

This, Kahi said was because the job group C4 has been punitive to the promotion of teachers leading to stagnation because C3 and C4 are actually within the band of the former job group L.

Still, on resolutions towards the TSC, The Association called for its consistency in releasing funds meant for the association because the members have agreed to have Sh500 deductions every month to enable KESHA to run its affairs smoothly.

“We will continue to work very closely with the Ministry of Education and the government to ensure that there is a smooth transition of learners when they move from junior secondary to senior secondary schools,” Kahi said.

KESSHA is an affiliate of the African Confederation of Principals and the International Confederation of Principals.

"The policy of not being able to attend meetings when school are on is punitive to the members of KESSHA," he ad.

“The process of identifying bright and needy students with the new funding approach at the university; we have resolved that there should be a full proof process and we need to be fully involved in it because we know the children in our institutions that are actually needy and we can give information to help in the identification process.

Kahi said that they shall forward their resolutions to the Government and TSC for purposes of collaboration, understanding, and looking for the way forward together as they guide the sector

Kahi also made an announcement of relinquishing the Chairman’s position of KESSHA by December this year.

 Courtesy; K. N. A