The Teachers Service Commission (TSC) has issued a show-cause letter to the Alliance Girls High School principal for hiking fees to Ksh 120,000 from Ksh 53,000 approved by the Ministry of Education. As part of the disciplinary process, the employer has issued a show-cause letter to the administrator, Margaret Njeru, and she is expected to respond within 7 days.
According to the TSC, the school principal did not follow the set procedure before adjusting the school fees beyond the KSh 53,000 cap on secondary education fees set by the Ministry of Education.
On Tuesday, May 5, Julius Kibet Bitok, the Principal Secretary, State Department for Basic Education, argued that the matter of the overcharged school fees was brought to the ministry by parents and stakeholders in the school.
Immediate action was taken against the Alliance Girls High School principal following the concerns delivered to the ministry.
On his part, the Director of Quality Assurance at the Teacher Service Commission, Reuben Nthamburi, who received the action plan letter from the Cabinet Secretary, said that immediate disciplinary action has been taken against Principal Margaret Njeru.
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TSC on Principal Margaret Njeru
According to Reuben, TSC issued a short-course letter to the Principal of Alliance Girls, who is required to respond within the next seven days.
“I want to tell Kenyans that we received the Cabinet Secretary’s letter, and we have issued a show cause letter to the Principal Alliance Girls, which she is required to answer in the next seven days. And after that, then the process will begin as required by law,” Reuben Nthamburi stated during the Elimu Mashinani.
Further, the TSC official explained that the financial management of the school is handled by an audit team and the audit directors of the Ministry of Education, with the commission initiating the disciplinary actions.
He further noted that cases of schools charging amounts higher than the set school fees have often occurred, but within the regulations.
For a school to legally change the set school fee structure, the decision must be approved by the Board of Management and written to the PS for approval before making any alteration to the school fees, which was not the case for Alliance Girls’ High School fees.
PS Bitok emphasized that the Ministry of Education had no idea that Principal Margaret Njeru had changed the school fees to KSh 120,000 before the stakeholders raised complaints.
He, however, did not explain whether the director of the sub-county in Kiambu had reported the school fee changes made by Margaret Njeru, citing that the school had received prior approval for additional school fees.
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Alliance Girls High School Fees Changes
According to PS Julius Bitok, Alliance Girls High School received approval from the Ministry of Education up to two years ago, after which they stopped seeking approval.
The approval by the ministry in the past two years has allowed the school to increase the school fees from the ministry-capped fee of KSh 53,000 to KSh 90,000.
PS Bitok emphasized that the previous changes to the school fees, set at Ksh 90,000, were known to the ministry, and that no increment request from Margret Njeru had been made recently.
He, however, clarified that the ministry had not approved the additional charges that brought the fees to KSh 120,000, which had been charged for the past year.
Prof. Bitok added that with the changes in the school fees, the ministry would allow revisiting the school fees, but only through the right procedure.
