The Education Cabinet Secretary (CS), Julius Ogamba, has once again put on notice school principals holding national examination certificates for students with school fee arrears that they risk facing disciplinary action as well as being jailed.
The CS said despite issuing the same directive a few days ago, some principals have ignored it, warning that continued holding of the certificates is illegal.
Speaking at MaryHill Girls High School when he presided over a Prize Giving Day on Wednesday, the CS said they are waiting for a report from the County Education officials on the status of uncollected certificates after the lapse of 14 days and any School Head found culpable will face the law.
“People have said this directive has been given many times and so nothing is going to happen. I assure you that something is going to happen. You will face both disciplinary and legal action. On disciplinary, the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) knows what they have to do. On legal action, you will be taken to court,” CS Ogamba said.
The CS told the Principals to consider calling the students to pick up their certificates before the cases get to his office.
“Legally, you should not be holding a certificate bearing the name of a student. If it’s failure to pay school fees, your contract is with the parent, not the student. Please release them before something gets you along the way which might impoverish you because if we file a suit, you will have a lot of problems. If you have been holding a certificate for 10 years, we shall do something called quantification in law,” said the CS.
On the University Funding Model, the CS said that, the Education Ministry will conduct public participation across the country, to align with the court demands.
He said the Ministry has been working on a report since October last year, which is ready and is expected to inform the next cause of action regarding the funding model.
The government has been involved in a legal battle at the appellate court after a High Court decision that struck out the funding model introduced in May 2023 on the grounds that it was discriminatory and lacked sufficient public participation.
The Court of Appeal in its ruling directed the Attorney General, the Higher Education Loans Board (HELB), and the Kenya Universities and Colleges Central Placement Service (KUCCPS) to publicize the funding model within 14 days to universities, colleges, and students.
By Muoki Charles
