I spent all day yesterday at a high school board meeting. Top on the agenda was 2019 financials & 2020 budget.
School has 900 pupils.
School charges exactly sh53,544 per year.
School has above average diet (3 eggs per week, meat 3 times a week etc) https://www.pd.co.ke/news/education/magoha-sets-record-straight-on-school-fees-increment-16060/

School also spent sh3M on repairs.
Yet, school has sh9M surplus in 2019. Add sh16M saved in previous years and we closed year with sh25M.
Will spend sh23M to build new 300-bed dorm - contractor on site
Sh2M to sink new borehole - waiting NEMA approval

250k on pupils entertainment system & 65in TV.
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Moral of the story?

The government prescribed fees are MORE THAN ENOUGH to run a school. No one should be asking for more.

6 years ago, the school was dying under weight of sh21M debt. Was surving at mercy of suppliers, but they weren't very kind. They charged premium prices for everything since payments we delayed for six months or more.

Then school board & management changed....

Audited, verified & "owned" old debts.

Signed payment agreements with creditors

Advertised new tenders with commitment to pay new supplies "cheque-on-delivery" basis.

That dropped prices of most supplies by over 50%.

Used savings to clear old debts in 2 years...

Today, all supplies are paid within 7days from delivery. School gets lowest prices - lower than wholesale!

It hasn't been smooth sailing.
Govt policy shifts can derail & delay plans.

Up to 2017, we charged sh53,544. We made 2018 budget based on this figure. Hoped to save enough to start building the dorm in January 2018 - even got designs finalised.
Then govt changed fee structure!

As an Ex-County school, our fees were dropped to sh40,535 - sh13,000 less!

No way we could make savings. Indeed, even normal operations were tight.

To make things worse, govt started the 100% transition policy. So, we were given an extra stream of form 1s in 2018 intake!

Govt gave us sh1.5M to build one classroom (now you know why many public schools look like unplanned slums), but nothing for dorm expansion. *remember: our dorms were already congested!

We converted one workshop into a dorm a computer lab into a classroom.

With the sh1.5M and savings from 2017, we started construction of 4 classrooms in 2018

Then called parents and asked for help. They agreed to pay an extra sh7k in 2019 for construction of new dorm.

Then in 3rd term 2018, govt fee structure changed again - this time to our benefit! As an urban school, we were asked to charge sh53,544 (phew!)

With this, there was no need to charge the extra sh7k that parents had agreed.

But, you never know; govt might wake up tomorrow and announce that it has reduced fees "because of hard economic times"

What I've learnt over the years I've been in the school BoM is that the government of Kenya is NOT serious about education. Education is just a tool for gaining political mileage. No wonder it was not part of the president's #Big4Agenda legacy program.

That's how a dorm that was supposed to be built in 2018 will now be built in 2020.

I recommend that this current thread should be read together with this previous one: https://twitter.com/mungaikihanya/status/1156474255208591360?s=19

I know many want to know how the school performed in #KCSE2019

We had about 200 candidates...

The new dorm taking shape....
Second slab to be done by end of March (concrete needs 28 days to cure properly)
Roofing scheduled for April.....

On course to complete by end of June.

2019 and 2018 KCSE...

The computer science exam is easy. Nearly all candidates score A. KNEC needs to revisit!

Our new dorm steadily taking shape. Wall painting and window glazing to start on Tuesday, 2nd June. Everything working on schedule.... despite Covid19 manenos!

On completion, we will need to pay the contractor Sh7.8M. Money is in our savings account.

We have re-worked our term 1 budget & squeezed out sh2.5M to continue paying salaries up to Aug.

However, we will need to cut salaries of non-essential staff by 50% - #COVID19 manenos!

New challenge: we had already bought dry foods for term 2. It's been in the store all this time with little activity going on.
Invited experts to test condition. About 30% is unfit - will have to be destroyed.

Expert says we're OK - many schools have had to destroy everything!

As at 25th June
I plan to visit next week to see completed strure.

This is the congestion we're trying to relieve with the new dorm. Incidentally, the pupils left their boxes in school after the March closing. They expected to return in May.

Will their clothes still be usable after sitting in the box for 9 months?

Any way: this is what they will find when they come back in January...

Finally, the dorm is complete. Contractor cleared from the site in mid-July. Next step is to fit beds... These pictures are from yesterday.

While at the school, I entered one classroom and tried to figure out how Covid19 social distancing will work. In my view, it is COMPLETELY IMPOSSIBLE!

Currently, classrooms have 45 to 50 desks arranged in 7 columns and 7/8 rows.

To keep 1.5m apart, these must drop to 4 rows & 4 columns. That is, 16 desks per classroom. Therefore, we need 2 new classrooms for each one on the ground!

We have 20 classrooms, so we need 40 new ones.

Can that be done in the next 4 months? No way!

This is a good idea. We'd need 3 sessions - morning, afternoon & evening.

I remember when I was teaching at Egerton in the early 1990s, we used to teach night classes up to 10pm. This went on for 5 years as the University tried to clear double-intake. https://twitter.com/2FingersKenya/status/1296782112243306497?s=19