Schools break for mid-term amid youth protests
Schools break for mid-term amid youth protests
Schools break for mid-term amid youth protests
This week’s midterm break for schools around the nation raises concerns about student safety in light of the ongoing protests against the contentious Finance Bill.
Following the severe flooding in April and May, a new school calendar resulted in the break being rescheduled from June 20 to June 24 to June 26 to June 28.
The planned week-long rallies against the Finance Bill, 2024 fall during the midterm break, which raises fears that students could be drawn into the demonstrations or even persuaded to participate.
National Parents Association head Silas Obuhatsa urged schools on Sunday to arrange for kids’ transportation home.
“We have asked the Ministry of Education to provide clear guidance on how student safety will be ensured, especially those traveling home during the demonstrations,” said Obuhatsa.
He urged parents to take responsibility for their children’s safety during the break.
“Teenagers are susceptible to peer pressure. It’s crucial for parents to monitor their children and ensure they don’t get involved in protest activities,” noted Obuhatsa.
Schools are facing a financial crunch with headteachers saying running day-to-day operations is an uphill task because of the delay in the release of capitation funds more than a month after the start of second term.
Day secondary schools bear a heavier load because they are entirely dependent on capitation for funding, according to Willy Kuria, chairman of the Kenya Secondary Schools Heads Association (KESSHA).
Murang’a High School principal Kuria said that boarding secondary schools suffer a similar problem, with head teachers having to deal with both direct parent costs and government financing delays.
The KESSHA chief stated, “Schools did not receive the full amount of capitation funds they were set to get for the first term.”
While launching the fourth National Education Sector Strategic Plan 2023-27 Education Cabinet Secretary Ezekiel Machogu announced that schools will receive capitation for the second term in the course of June.
“We are at an advanced stage of ensuring that second term capitation will be released in the course of this month. No school will close because 50 per cent capitation was given to both primary and secondary schools,” he said.
Machogu said schools will get 30 per cent capitation for the second term.
“We will be able to give the remaining twenty percent in the third term, which will be the final term,” he continued.
