Parents with children at Shimo la Tewa High School in Mombasa County on Tuesday held demonstrations demanding its principal be transferred for mishandling the school's finances and what they believed to be presiding over poor academic performance.
Speaking to the press, the parents claimed that the institution was performing poorly with a large number of students scoring D.
Further, the parents lamented that they had contributed Ksh5 million towards the purchase of a school bus which was yet to be acquired.
As a result, they demanded the school principal to show the proof that their funds had not been diverted towards other purposes.
“Unfortunately, our children are performing poorly with most scoring D. Mr. Principal, let it be notified to you that we are the custodians of Shimo la Tewa and we are coming for you," lamented a parent, Rajab Msafwari.
"There are Ksh5 million we the parents contributed. Mr. Principal, where is our money? Where is the bus?"
Another parent complained that the school was increasingly sending students home for fees despite the school having recently increased annual school fees by Ksh10,000.
"Apart from the Ksh56,000 fee parents pay, the principal has added Ksh10,000 more," the parents added.
The principal, Mathew Mutiso, however, denied the claims noting that the school's performance was solid despite a continually increasing student population.
"I want to deny that the performance of the school has gone down. The population of the school is growing. In 2022, we had 331 candidates. In 2023, we had 392 candidates."
"This year, our target is that we have more than 300 students with C+," Mutiso insisted.
He further maintained that the school's board had agreed to use the Ksh5 million contributed to pay for other services, including staff payments during the Covid-19 pandemic period.
Mutiso, however, assured the parents that plans were in high gear to reimburse the funds and subsequently purchase the bus.
He, however, faulted the parents' demonstrations arguing that they should have reported their grievances to the Ministry of Education which employs him.
"I believe it is a witch hunt because these people have not said this in school. They should even have gone through the right channels like the Ministry (of Education) where I am an employee," he added.
The parents, however, demanded the government to transfer the principal within seven days.
"We are giving the government a seven-day ultimatum to transfer the principal," a parent told the press.
