Schools slapped with new levy

The Education ministry is on the spot for authorising a lobby group to charge public schools millions of shillings to purportedly help in setting up parents associations. The Kenya National Parents Association was given the go-ahead to conduct elections in primary and secondary schools after it obtained a court order abolishing all parents teachers associations, saying they were against the law.

Following the ruling, the Education ministry wrote to all heads of public schools, directing them to pay Sh2,000 each to the organisation as a fee for conducting new elections. With about 25,000 primary and 7,700 secondary schools in Kenya, the association, whose secretary-general is Mr Musau Ndunda, is set to rake in a whopping Sh65 million.

Reference : www.nation.co.ke

“We wish to clarify that the National Parents Association was granted approval by the then Minister for Education to charge Sh2,000 per school to support the activities of the association,” says a circular signed by a ministry official on behalf of Principal Secretary Belio Kipsang.

Last month, Mr Ndunda directed all principals and headteachers to make preparations for his organisation to conduct elections for parents-teachers associations within 30 days, preferably during weekends.

Dr Kipsang on Wednesday said he was not aware of the payments to the organisation, adding that it was not supposed to charge anything.

“I need to look at that document. It was signed by our legal person. What I know is that the organisation should not be charging any money. We allowed them to conduct the elections because we were compelled by the court, otherwise we were originally hesitant about it,” said Dr Kipsang.

But Mr Ndunda justified the payments, saying the money would be used to buy refreshments for parents taking part in the elections.

“We cannot fail to offer water or soda to parents taking part in elections for a whole day, it would be inhuman. We will use part of the money to buy voters cards for the parents,” he said. He explained that all the funds collected and spent are accounted for in the organisation’s financial statement.

“Everything is in black and white. At our annual meeting, we present the financial statement to members,” he said.

Six parents’ representatives will now be allowed to sit on the boards of management, which are charged with running schools.

Reference : http://www.nation.co.ke/