Political leaders in Kilifi County have called on school principals to stop sending away students over nonpayment of school fees.
They also urged the government to prevail upon the school administrators to heed government directives to keep students in school as ways of settling learners’ fees balances are sought.
Kilifi North Member of Parliament Owen Baya, his Kaloleni counterpart Paul Katana and Kayafungo Member of County Assembly Alphonce Mwayaa lamented that despite Cabinet Secretary George Magoha directing the principals not to send students away, many students had been sent home for fees.
This, they said, amounted to insubordination, hence the need for the CS to crack the whip on errant school administrators with a view to safeguarding the constitutional rights of children to education.
Mr. Baya threatened to deal with principals in his constituency who would not heed the government’s directive, saying they were infringing on the constitutional rights of children to education.
“In my constituency, no principal can send away children because I usually deal with them and they respect me,” Mr. Baya said at Makomboani village during the burial of Mr. Matthew Karisa Katana, an uncle to the Kaloleni MP.
Mr. Baya said the school heads should directly engage with parents instead of resorting to sending students away, saying it was not the responsibility of students to look for fees.
“If you send the students home, do you want them to go and look for employment to pay fees. We must respect children and their constitutional right to education and no teacher has the right to deny that right.
He told parents who have difficulties in paying fees to also explain their predicaments to school administrators and their area leaders so that no child stays out of school due to lack of fees.
On his part, Mr. Katana said many parents were not able to pay school fees as they had been out of employment due to the Coronavirus pandemic and urged the government to waive fees for students from poor and vulnerable families.
Mr. Katana also lamented that about 200 school girls in his constituency had become pregnant during the long holiday, ten of them having been impregnated by their own fathers.
He at the same time urged the government to urgently address the industrial unrest in the health sector noting that poor Kenyans were suffering due to the ongoing strikes by health workers.
Mr. Mwayaa said urged principals to be patient since the NG-CDF and Ward bursary funds were doing their best to pay school fees for needy children.