The Kenya Union of Post-Primary Education Teachers (KUPPET) has warned that schools might be forced to close before mid-term if the government fails to release capitation funds for the third term on time.
In a press briefing on Sunday, August 31, KUPPET Chairperson Omboko Milemba said that the Treasury should ensure that school capitation is released by Monday, September 1, to avert school disruption.
Milemba noted that the delay in releasing school capitation on time has significantly crippled school heads' ability to effectively manage the institutions, which, in turn, denies learners an opportunity to access quality education.
"In the first term, some schools closed earlier because there was no money in the schools, so we are insisting that the government has a responsibility to release the money to schools so that the learners can get quality education," Milemba said.
"We will not stop telling them to release the funds because teachers are suffering, principals, and of course the learners, because if there is no money by midterm, then we shall be asking the principals to close the schools," he added.
In addition to the timely release of capitation, KUPPET has further urged the government to ensure that it increases school capitation, in line with the recommendation of the education body which is in charge of the capitation of schools.
"We, as a union, are demanding that by Monday, the government should release the capitation. The capitation was released from Ksh22,200 per student to Ksh16,900, but we would like the government to increase it back to where it was," one KUPPET official said.
The warning by KUPPET comes almost a week after the Treasury Cabinet Secretary, John Mbadi, said that the government was to release school capitation to the Ministry of Education on Tuesday, August 26, to avert school disruptions.
Mbadi said that the treasury will release a total of Ksh23 billion to all schools and additional funds to the Higher Education Loans Board (HELB).
Speaking on Monday, August 25, the treasury boss assured that the government is also mobilising additional resources to increase education capitation.
"We have not been giving money for capitation, and we have not been doing this for seven years, and I have no apologies to make. We have sat with the PSs for education and also the CS to look at that gap under the instruction of the president, and we have seen the gap," Mbadi said.
"We want to get more resources for capitation so that our children can go to school, and we want to give more money to the Higher Education Loans Board (HELB), and by the way, tomorrow we are releasing Ksh17 billion and Ksh5.9 billion for examination, and we should also give more money to HELB," he added.
