Parents are locked in a battle with private school owners and managers over fees following the unprecedented closure of learning institutions worldwide due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Some institutions are accused of taking advantage of Covid-19 to charge extra fees for online classes that they are offering to mitigate the nationwide closure of schools that face a serious cash crunch as fees is their main revenue stream.
The situation has been worsened by Education Cabinet Secretary George Magoha’s extension of the closure by a month. Schools were to open for second term next week.
Many of them have now turned to online classes for which parents have been tasked to pay.
At Riara Road Primary and Riara Springs Primary, parents have been asked to pay between Sh13,500 and 17,500 per month for pupils in Grade One to Standard Eight.
A parent who did not want to be identified termed the fees as unfair and insensitive.
“We had already paid full fees for first term. We cannot now be required to pay more to cater for online learning, which is happening in homes. We’re using more electricity, money for Internet bundles, food and other costs, which should be normally borne by the school. It’s unfair to demand more money from us,” she said, adding, she’s ready to go to court to stop the additional fee demands.
Some institutions are accused of taking advantage of Covid-19 to charge extra fees for online classes that they are offering to mitigate the nationwide closure of schools that face a serious cash crunch as fees is their main revenue stream.
The situation has been worsened by Education Cabinet Secretary George Magoha’s extension of the closure by a month. Schools were to open for second term next week.
Many of them have now turned to online classes for which parents have been tasked to pay.
At Riara Road Primary and Riara Springs Primary, parents have been asked to pay between Sh13,500 and 17,500 per month for pupils in Grade One to Standard Eight.
A parent who did not want to be identified termed the fees as unfair and insensitive.
“We had already paid full fees for first term. We cannot now be required to pay more to cater for online learning, which is happening in homes. We’re using more electricity, money for Internet bundles, food and other costs, which should be normally borne by the school. It’s unfair to demand more money from us,” she said, adding, she’s ready to go to court to stop the additional fee demands.