Kenya: Parents and teachers set to finance expenditures after reopening of schools

Kenyan Parents and teachers are set to finance some expenditures when schools reopen after the government opted to share the cost of upgrading institutions, according to a news report by Kenyans.co.ke.

An Education Ministry training manual signed by Basic Education Principal Secretary Belio Kipsang and Director-General Elyas Abdi detailed how the government, teachers, and parents will share responsibilities.

In the document, the government indicated that parents will facilitate the purchasing of desks. The government fears that its Ksh 1.9 billion allocations towards this project may not cover all public schools. 

622,257 desks will only be offered to 5,254 secondary and 5,136 primary schools. Parents and teachers will add more desks in an effort to facilitate social distancing. 

Secondly, parents and teachers were directed to cover the cost of purchasing masks. It would require over Ksh 1 billion for the government to offer two masks per student. 

Parents Associations, Board of Management (BOM), and County Education Boards were also tasked with hatching resource mobilization strategies to aid in upgrading schools.

"Participants may have to come up with extra learning rooms, additional finances, staff (teaching and non-teaching staff), ICT infrastructure, sustainable supply of running water and sanitizers and sanitizing facilities," the document states. 

The fourth requirement listed is a directive to parents, teachers, and BOMs to find and convince potential donors to partner with schools.

Teachers and a few select parents will be taught how to create strategies and maintain policies. The donors will aid them in ensuring that schools set measures that curb the spread of Covid-19. 

This includes having clean running water and hand washing points, construction of extra classrooms, and availing sanitizers.