In banning graduation ceremonies for nursery school children — where parents are charged between Sh1,000 and Sh2,000 per child – City Hall has done a good thing.
Graduation ceremonies for children as young as pre-primary school, which appear to be a fairly recent phenomenon in Kenya — are not that necessary.
And when children, whose parents are unable to pay the graduation fees, are denied entry into primary schools, we effectively put the children on uneven terrain. It is a callous position to hold and is the reason teachers are seen to be using the events to swindle parents of their money.
Education systems all over the world do not accord any importance to these ceremonies. They are just an occasion for the parents to celebrate with the kids. This is the reason at the very least they could be made optional.
This in essence is just part of the grand scheme to introduce all manner of levies in defiance of the free public schools education policy.
The Nairobi county government's action to prevent fleecing of parents is certainly laudable, and is something that other counties could emulate - to avoid burdening parents with unnecessary charges. It is not fair to expect parents to pay for the extraneous levies even when they, as taxpayers are already paying the government to provide the basic education for free.
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