The Kenya National Parents Association (KNPA) has hit out at some schools over the valuation of damages cost as a result of students unrest.
KNPA national chairman Nicholas Maiyo says some schools were taking advantage of the unrest to set a high cost for parents when determining the amount to be paid to facilitate the repair of properties destroyed.
In a media briefing in Eldoret town, Maiyo said the Ministry of Public Works needs to set up a task force that will be mandated to determine the cost of damaged property as a result of schools unrest, to protect parents.
“Those schools that students burnt some property, parents have gone through a hard time because of the high fees they were slapped with,” noted the KNPA chairman.
“It is good the government sets up a task force that will be handling this issue of costing whenever there is a fire incident in school or destruction of property,” he added.
According to Maiyo, the amount each parent pays to facilitate the rebuilding of the schools damaged by schools unrests was decided by the Board of Management (BoM) who have no slightest expertise to make a professional assessment of the value of damages made.
As a result of the unrest, some schools like Kakamega High School demanded up to Ksh10,000 per student as a fee to facilitate repair and rebuild of the damaged property, a figure the parents say was way too high.
The parent’s boss further noted that the burden of repairing the schools should not only be restricted to parents, as in some cases, teachers, BoM and even the community have been implicated.
Over 30 schools were affected by the wave of unrest that forced the Ministry of Education to ask schools to release the students for a mid-term break.
In Uasin Gishu County, at least two schools were affected by the unrest after students at Cheplaskei Boys in Kesses Sub County and Kipkabus Boys in Ainabkoi burnt their dormitories.
