NAIROBI, Kenya Nov 17 – Kiharu MP Ndindi Nyoro has strongly opposed the Ministry of Education’s proposal to reduce government capitation for day secondary schools, calling the directive unacceptable and a threat to free basic education.
The former National Assembly Budget Committee Chairman srongly opposed to a circular from the Ministry of Education that purportedly seeks to reduce capitation funding for day secondary schools from Ksh22,000 to Ksh12,000 per student.
The second term MP argues the reduction would necessitate parents paying an additional Ksh9,300, potentially increasing annual school fees to over Ksh20,000, which the MP stresses many families cannot afford.
“I want to assure you as a member of parliament I will do everything possible within my powers to make make the the government recede that decision because education plays a very critical role in development of any country in a country like Kenya. I know first because of that even some parents cannot even afford to pay the thousand shillings we charge for school fees,” Ndindi said.
Nyoro emphasized that many parents in Kiharu cannot afford such fees, noting that under the Kiharu Masomo Bora program, some still struggle to raise even the current KSh 1,000 contribution.
He appealed to government leaders to re-evaluate their priorities, suggesting that money currently used for political purposes should instead be allocated to support the schools.
“I want to request our leaders. All the money we are using to manage politics in Kenya is more than enough to say to our test schools to make even the schools free in Kenya and we have to get our priorities right. There is no way you’ll come you’ll do baraza sponsored by government in the same budget then you come to tell us that there is no money for capitation for our secondary schools in Kenya,” the Kiharu MP said.
He noted that he is not going to allow any leader to play around with free basic education in Kenya which was rolled out by the Kenya’s third President Mwai Kibaki during his term between 2002 to 2013.
