Schools need to be more understanding

SCHOOLS charge project and other fees to sustain and maintain their operations because of the inefficient payment of tuition fees by the Education Department.
However, charging these fees defeats the Government’s free education policy.
All of last week and the previous week I have been taking my younger brother to Gerehu Secondary School and the administration is refusing to enroll him because we cannot pay a project fee of K500.
We asked if they could register him while we were looking for the money but they refused. We explained our plight but they said the K500 was not a big amount.
However, they must not forget that every family is not in the same social or financial class. Many of these students come from poor families or broken homes.
Hence, the school administration should allow students with such issues to be enrolled and pay later.
If the project fees are not paid as promised then they can apply appropriate sanctions on the students such as withholding their certificates after they complete Grade 10 or 12.
Nevertheless, schools must not renege on the directives of the Education Secretary and government by charging unrealistic and unnecessary project fees.
A student’s future is in limbo because few schools have created anarchy in the organised education system.
I call on the Education Secretary to look into the operation and management of these schools that are charging project fees and penalise them accordingly for breaching lawful directives from higher authorities.

Magic Lamp
NCD