New tricks principals are using to increase schools fees

juma chrispinus

September 15, 2017 9:30 AM

Secondary school heads collect another Sh116.6 billion in school fees from parents annually

The government is losing billions of cash to ghost students High School principals mount in a scheme to loot, the government auditor has exposed.

Of the Sh28 billion released annually by the Ministry of Education to benefit about 2.2million students, a huge chunk of the cash lands in the pockets of principals, who allegedly inflate enrolment records to defraud the taxpayers, The Standard reported on Friday.

Based on the audited records at the Ministry of Education, Kiambu, Nairobi, Kajiado and Machakos Counties lead in the fraud. The circus cited ranged from irregular allocation of funds, procurement of goods and questionable expenditure, which some principals found it hard to account for.

The 2013-2014 financial appraisals revelations puts a sharp question on the overall enrolment figures of students in public schools entitled to capitation money from the Government.

The 2013-2014 financial appraisals on the Free Day Secondary Schools (FDSE) shows that secondary school heads collect about Sh116.6 billion from parents annually. This comes in the wake of an increased capitation by Treasury Cabinet Secretary Henry Rotich with Sh32.7 billion set aside to cater for free day secondary schools.

Irregular tenders

The report has also exposed dubious schemes by school heads to award tenders without adequate vetting of the service providers.

Over 36 schools have been implicated in the scam, leading to a loss of over Sh26.1 million through indirect procurement instead of open tendering as required by the Public Procurement and Disposal Act, 2005.

In addition, a scrutiny of financial records of 24 schools revealed that funds were transferred from one account to another without requisite authority.

“A total of Sh15.7 million in four schools was transferred irregularly as at June 30, 2014. A review of the position in March, 2015 revealed that some schools had refunded Sh13.7 million to the original accounts, leaving an outstanding amount of Sh1.9 million,” the report partly reads as quoted by the daily.

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