Public schools could be forced to close early or ask parents to chip in after the National Treasury said that it would release Sh48 billion capitation funds next month.

Teachers and parents are warning of dark days ahead for the troubled education sector one week after schools reopened for the first term.

Last week, Treasury Cabinet Secretary John Mbadi said that the earliest schools could get the capitation was at the end of January after the government pays loans.

National Parents Association (NPA), revealed that many schools are currently shouldering debts incurred in the last financial year.

The association Secretary-General Eskimos Kobia termed the announcement by the CS worrying as the government had not released last year’s full capitation.

Kobia accused the Treasury of failing to plan, saying that since last year, the government knew the opening dates but had failed to release the funds on time.

“Schools reopened last week to empty coffers and the management is finding it hard to buy learning materials and food due to lack of funding,” he said.

He regretted that schools are struggling to pay workers and teachers employed by the board, warning that the financial crisis could worsen in the coming days.

Gilgil MP Martha Wangari revisited the construction of Junior Secondary Schools (JSS) classrooms saying that tens of schools had missed out on the exercise.

Wangari questioned the rationale used to identify schools that would benefit from the classrooms, noting that more than 50 per cent of schools in her constituency had missed out.

The MP proposed that funds used in the construction of the classes should be channeled through NG-CDF which was more effective.

The legislator said that the situation had been worsened by failure by the government to release the capitation funds forcing parents to use their money to buy food and learning materials.

“We are deeply concerned over the failure to construct more JSS classrooms while lack of capitation fees could force schools to close early,” she said.

A head teacher from one of the public schools warned that learning activities could be paralysed in the coming days due to lack of funds.

The Principal who declined to be named said that they had not received the capitation after schools opened for first term.

“We owe suppliers millions of shillings mainly in food and learning materials and many are not ready to commit their cash and this could affect learning,” said the principal.

The teacher said that in November 2024, the Education Cabinet Secretary promised that the government would release the funds but this did not happen forcing schools to run without budgets.

“Treasury has not remitted last year’s capitation to secondary schools leading to piling debts and things will get worse in January if students miss out on bursary,” he said.