Private Schools Investors in Kisumu County have pleaded with the government to come to their rescue following the adverse effects of the Covid-19 pandemic that have paralyzed operations in their institutions.
The Kenya Private Schools Association National Secretary Mr Charles Ochome at the same time hailed the Ministry of Education for meeting the cost of registering all candidates for the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education, (KCSE) and the Kenya Certificate for Primary Education, (KCPE) for both public and private schools.
Ochome regretted that private schools have suffered a major blow during the Covid 19 period and asked the State to expedite the release of the Sh7 Billion set aside to help them cope with the challenges posed by the ravaging pandemic.
The association appealed to the government to also pay capitation fee for students in private schools as opposed to the current situation where only those in public schools enjoy the facility.
“We plead with the government to treat children equally. Paying the capitation fee for students in the private schools will lessen the burden for the needy students to access better education,” said Mr Michael Oliech, the Kisumu County Private Schools Association Secretary.
Oliech decried that bank loans have become untenable due to their high interests and asked the government to avail loans at lesser interests to private school owners.
Most private schools in Kisumu County have remained operational despite facing a critical cash crunch but several upcoming ones in Obunga, Manyatta and Nyalenda slums were forced to close down.
The private school owners in the meantime hailed the newly introduced Competency-Based Curriculum (CBC) and assured to support its implementation.
The director of the Living Streams School in Kisumu Mrs Emmy Awino thanked President Uhuru Kenyatta for allowing private schools to continue operating amid Covid 19 pandemic while observing the laid protocols to combat its spike. She said that private schools in the region performed well despite the challenges posed by Covid 19.
Awino was speaking on Monday at a function to celebrate the schools’ stunning performance in KCPE 2020. Some 13 candidates of the Christian based school, which was established with an aim of giving back to the society scored over 300 marks in the just released KCPE examination results.
The best candidate, Prince Ikabi, 14, scored 389 marks and aspires to be a pilot.
By Robert Ojwang’
