Admissions quota leaves elite schools with fees burden
Alliance High School students celebrate after their school was ranked the second best countrywide in last year’s KCSE exam results released in March 2013. Photo/FILE
What you need to know:
The prestigious schools, that normally charge relatively higher fees, were ordered by the government to reserve up to 70 per cent of their slots to students from public primary schools beginning 2011.
The rising defaults threaten to compromise the quality of education at the elite institutions that typically invest more to run their operations, including feeding students and hiring support staff.
Principals say there is uncertainty over how to treat students with school fees balances, with their continued learning amounting to a subsidy from their peers who are paying their obligations.
Kenya’s national secondary schools are increasingly grappling with mounting school fees defaults in the wake of rising admission of students from poorer backgrounds.
The prestigious schools, that normally charge relatively higher fees, were ordered by the government to reserve up to 70 per cent of their slots to students from public primary schools beginning 2011.
This reversed the previous meritocracy that saw students from private primary schools — affordable to wealthy and middle class families — take up most of the slots in the elite secondary schools.
Principals say the affirmative action has created a new problem for the national schools, with a swelling number of students unable to settle their fees that range from Sh60,000 to Sh100,000 per year. This has affected operations of schools such as Mang’u, Alliance Boys, Kisii, and Chogoria Girls.
To assist the defaulting students, the schools have stepped up fundraising from charitable groups.
“We are strained by the high school fees arrears,” said Mutali Chesebe, the deputy principal at Alliance High School.
“There have been increased admissions of students from genuinely poor backgrounds and others whose parents got used to not paying fees under the free primary education,” he said.
Mr Chesebe added that total fee balances at Alliance stand at more than Sh20 million. Other national schools are equally feeling the pinch.
The rising defaults threaten to compromise the quality of education at the elite institutions that typically invest more to run their operations, including feeding students and hiring support staff.
The schools previously had a smooth sailing, with a majority of students from well-off families paying their fees on schedule. Principals say that the few needy students had their fees settled by the alumni, who are now unable to replicate their charity on the swelling number of defaulters.
The schools are increasingly becoming dependent on fundraising from the alumni, with the government’s annual grant of Sh10,000 per student hardly enough to meet the cost of educating the defaulting learners.
“It is a severe problem,” said Joseph Muthende, the deputy principal at Mang’u High School, noting that some students have each accumulated balances of over Sh100,000.
“Sponsors are now critical in this environment where more students are unable to pay their fees,” said Mr Muthende. The national schools have produced some of Kenya’s most successful businessmen and professionals.
Principals say there is uncertainty over how to treat students with school fees balances, with their continued learning amounting to a subsidy from their peers who are paying their obligations.
“The new admission system needed to come with significant subsidies to national schools. We don’t know for how long this situation can persist,” said Casper Maina, the principal at Kisii High School where 15 per cent of the students have fee balances.
He added that national school heads have been petitioning the government to scale up its financial support to the institutions.
Education Cabinet Secretary Jacob Kaimenyi, who was appointed in April, said his office was not aware of the problem.
“The matter has not been brought to our attention but we are ready to address it,” Prof Kaimenyi said.
The annual fees charged by the schools cover tuition, food, accommodation, utilities, field trips, and salaries of support staff.
The institutions have some of the best facilities and services, including eateries, libraries, classrooms, and sport grounds.
Administrators say the expansion and maintenance of these has come under pressure in the wake of rising fee arrears.
Ms Lucy Nyaga, the deputy principal at Chogoria Girls High School, said the establishment of an endowment fund is one of the sustainable means of assisting poor students.
Aside from the alumni, the institutions are currently relying on random contributions from parents and students to offset obligations of the defaulting learners.
Starehe Boys Centre has a successful endowment fund and receives millions of shillings from its alumni, helping it to meet the cost of educating hundreds of learners over the decades.
“We are lucky because 70 per cent of our students are sponsored right from the start,” said Paul Mugo, the Starehe principal.
For the rest of the national schools, sending defaulting students back home is hardly an option. Principals say there is a tacit undertaking to retain the students in school regardless of the fee arrears, especially if they are confirmed to hail from humble backgrounds.
This has led to the current predicament that could renew debate about the fairness and sustainability of subsidised national secondary schools.
The government’s annual grant of Sh10,000 is issued to all secondary school students, regardless of the economic status of their families. This means that students from well-off households are finding it easier to fund their education even as defaults by their poorer colleagues strain the institutions’ finances.
The admissions rule coincided with the graduation of the first beneficiaries of the free primary education in 2010, paving the way more poor families to send their children to the national schools.
The first beneficiaries of the affirmative action are now in their third year of study and are expected to graduate next year if the schools uphold the policy of keeping them in school despite the arrears.
The government intended to address what it considered the entrenchment of inequality in the Kenyan society which is partly determined by access to top-notch education offered by the public national secondary schools and some private secondary schools.
The public schools have traditionally led in performance in Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) examination, with their candidates dominating the coveted government-subsidised public university admissions.
This means that students admitted to the institutions have a better chance of going to and completing their studies in public universities with soft loans from the Higher Education Loans Board.
Previously, students from private primary schools accounted for up to 90 per cent of admissions to Form One in national secondary schools.
