Principals demand three-year cycle for fees, capitation review

Secondary school principals have called on the government to establish a clear policy for reviewing school fees and capitation every three years to keep pace with changing economic conditions.

Speaking at the close of the Kenya Secondary School Heads Association (KESSHA) conference in Mombasa, where over 7,000 principals gathered, KESSHA chairman Willie Kuria said the current fees and funding structure do not reflect the financial realities schools are facing.

"The government should have a policy which will ensure the distribution of capitation funds and fees per student payment reflects the country's state of economy," Kuria said as he read the resolutions from the conference.

The principals also resolved to embrace flexibility and innovation in the rollout of the Competency-Based Education (CBE) curriculum, especially with Grade 10 students expected to join Senior School next year.

"The principals have agreed to embrace flexibility, creativity and innovation while implementing senior school pathways," he added.

In addition, the school heads urged the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) to introduce a new job grade beyond the current ceiling of D5, saying it does not match the responsibilities and qualifications of many principals.

"TSC should expand the job group from D5 to D7 and expedite promotion for acting principals who have served for more than six months," Kuria said.

The issue of unfair promotion practices, particularly in hardship areas, also dominated the discussion. KESSHA National Secretary Abdi Noor Haji criticised the TSC for reversing the promotions of 1,864 principals in arid and semi-arid regions (ASAL), who had already been interviewed and promoted.

He said the commission’s decision was based on the claim that the affected teachers had not served in their new roles for the mandatory three years.

"This is demoralising. These teachers were promoted to principal, senior principal and chief principal positions, but their promotions were revoked," said Abdi.

He further lamented that despite a serious teacher shortage in ASAL counties, it remained difficult to find qualified personnel willing to serve in these areas. He said many teachers use hardship regions to secure employment, and once confirmed or promoted, they immediately seek transfers.

"The shortage of teachers in arid areas is worrying because there are very few science teachers and subjects like computer are not being taught in schools in ASAL areas," Haji said.

"We do not have computer science, home science, woodwork and others, which makes us wonder how the children in these areas will be taught as we implement CBE."