Cash-strapped schools send learners home as capitation delays bite

Schools are sliding into a crisis as delayed government capitation leaves administrators with little choice but to send learners home over unpaid fees.

Principals describe a desperate struggle to keep schools afloat without the government funding as they continue to incur expenses on food, laboratory practicals, wages and other daily operations.

Sub-county institutions, which are mainly day schools that rely almost entirely on government capitation, are the most hit. Majority of their learners come from cities' informal settlements or rural villages.

Boarding schools are not spared either, with some already reporting arrears running into tens of millions of shillings. Some institutions report outstanding fees balances of more than Sh10 million.

“Parents begged us to allow students to remain in school while waiting for their salaries. The end month has passed, nothing has come forth. We will be releasing students home today,” said a principal in Western Kenya.

Some parents, said the head teacher, have offered to work in the school farm or kitchen to reduce their fee burden.

Last week, the Ministry of Education instructed schools to verify and submit each learner’s unique personal identifier (UPI) as part of a national data clean-up. The ministry said this was necessary before releasing funds.

In a circular by Basic Education Principal Secretary Julius Bitok, county directors were directed to coordinate data validation for all primary, junior, and secondary schools.

“Part of the process requires quality data collected through Nemis. The ministry is in the process of operationalising the Kenya Education Management Information System (Kemis) as the single source of accurate and reliable education data,” the circular read.

Only schools whose data is fully validated by Friday will be activated on the system to receive government services, including capitation.

The explanation has done little to convince school administrators. The Kenya Union of Post-Primary Education Teachers (Kuppet), the Kenya National Union of Teachers (Knut), and the Kenya Secondary Schools Heads Association (Kessha) have all raised alarm, warning that thousands of learners are losing valuable class time.

“As of Tuesday, we have not received capitation for both primary and junior secondary schools. All schools opened last week and heads are struggling to ensure learning takes place,” said Kessha chairman, Fuad Ali.

In Nyanza, a principal lamented that more than 1,000 learners lacked UPIs because they did not have birth certificates.

“We have been asked to verify details and submit the UPIs of each student, but this process is time-consuming. Meanwhile, the children are missing lessons,” he said.

Another principal in Kiambu questioned why the data clean-up is happening in the middle of the school year. “Why now, when students are preparing for exams? This should have happened during the holiday period. We are being forced to choose between paperwork and teaching.”

A principal in a national school added that while the government has previously used Nemis data to disburse funds, learners whose details were incomplete were unfairly excluded.

“The government has access to all data concerning learners. Why peg children’s education on bureaucratic delays?” she wondered.

Kessha said that administrators’ frustration is compounded by the fact that even when funds are released, they often come in partial amounts.

“According to the ministry, they always tell us that they have released full funding to schools. However, on the ground things are different. Some learners appear in red on the Nemis system, meaning information is missing, and they miss out on capitation. We are underfunded for that reason,” said Ali.

Principals say they have stretched every option from pleading with parents to borrowing supplies on credit but are now forced to send learners home

One Nairobi principal said he had given parents until Wednesday to clear fees or their children will be sent home.

“We cannot feed children on promises. Suppliers are already threatening to cut us off.”

The impact is out of hand as school stores go without enough food, laboratories without chemicals, and teachers demoralised.

The first cohort of learners under the Competency-Based Education (CBE) system is set to sit for assessments that will determine their future learning pathways. Yet many schools lack laboratories or equipment for practicals.

“The first cohort of CBE learners is going to sit for the assessment, which will inform their future pathways. Some schools don’t even have laboratories, and now the lack of funds makes preparations almost impossible,” Fuad noted.

Educationists fear that delayed capitation is undermining the credibility of assessments and deepening inequality between well-resourced private schools and struggling public institutions.

Usawa Agenda Director Dr. Emmanuel Manyasa warned that using KEMIS as an excuse to delay funding risks crippling schools.

“I do not support holding funds because of trying to get accurate data. If the government is worried about losing money on ghost learners, that is insignificant compared to the damage of denying millions of children timely resources,” he said.

He urged the ministry to separate data clean-up from capitation disbursement.

“Capitation money is institutional money, which schools need to buy lab materials and prepare candidates for national examinations. The data accuracy exercise can wait for the holidays. Right now, learning is at stake.”

Manyasa added that while creating an accurate database is a noble goal, it cannot be used to justify delays that hurt learners. “Unless the government does not have the money, they are hiding behind KEMIS.”

National Parents Association chairman Silas Obuhatsa say the delays forces schools to find alternative of making extra coin.

He said in rural areas, some parents have started offering manual labour at schools in exchange for reduced fees. Others are borrowing heavily, just to keep their children in class.

“Parents in rural who depend on crop harvest have nothing at hand to sell since harvest is still months away. I begged the school to keep children until parents can pay, but now majority are already at home,” said Obuhatsa.

In urban centres, working parents complain that constant disruptions are derailing their children’s studies.

“Every other week, there is a letter sending students home for fees. How will they compete in exams when they miss so much?” asked a father in Nairobi’s Eastlands.

As the crisis deepens, union leaders are urging the Treasury and Ministry of Education to release funds immediately.

KNUT Secretary General Collins Oyuu said the government must treat capitation as a non-negotiable lifeline.

“We cannot gamble with the future of our children. Every day lost is a step backward,” he said.

Kuppet counterpart Akelo Misori said thousands of learners' life hangs in the balance when they are sent home from schools that can no longer sustain them.

“Waiting for a government system to verify details on a computer with national assessments around the corner, the cost of delay could be devastating,” he said.

“Education is the one thing every parent sacrifices for. When schools cannot feed children or buy materials, it is not just a financial crisis it is a betrayal of our children’s future.”