The government has now distanced from school fees payment negotiations that will take place between school heads and parents as schools reopen.
This follows a directive by Education cabinet secretary Prof George Magoha last month, where schools heads were warned against turning away learners because of fee balances instead come up with a negotiable mode of settling the balances.
Nyeri County Director of Education Sabina Aroni, speaking at Barani Secondary school in Kilifi county said, school authorities will have to negotiate with individual parents on the criteria which they intend to use in settling their fee balances without hampering the running of essential services in schools.
Aroni further observed that, the majority of parents have been rendered jobless due to the Covid 19 pandemic hence heads have to be lenient as they consider that, schools also need some funds for some smooth running.
“If the water is disconnected, power cut off, and food is not paid for, that is a crisis and a responsibility of parents and principals. We are not even interfering with that arrangement and therefore let there be an agreement on how they will handle that,” she stressed.
The CS further insisted that, school heads should accept the little parents bring and negotiate on how the rest will be cleared as long as school learning processes are not interfered with.