Schools have until Sunday to repaint buses in yellow
The government will tow or ground all school buses found not painted in yellow starting on Sunday, the Ministry of Education has said.
Chief Administrative Secretary in the ministry, Mr Simon Kachapin, said the ministry will work with the National Transport and Safety Authority (NTSA) and the traffic police to crackdown on school buses that will not be in yellow colour as required.
Regional and county directors of education are supposed to ensure all school buses are painted yellow by the March 31 dateline.
“The government has ruled out extension of deadline on the directive that is requiring schools to paint buses yellow. All schools are supposed to have complied with this policy that was issued in the beginning of the year,” said Mr Kachapin.
Earlier, the Education Principal Secretary Belio Kipsang had directed school administrators who will not have complied with the directive by Saturday, which is the deadline, to take their buses off the roads.
LACK OF FUNDS
Speaking at St Peters Boys’ High School in Mumias during the school’s Annual General Meeting, Mr Kachapin said school principals who will defy the directive will face the wrath of enforcement agencies.
“Even though majority of the schools, about 90 per cent have complied with the directive, a few of them are yet to paint their buses yellow citing lack of funds,” he said.
The directive came in force in January 2017 when the then Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiangi ordered all school vehicles used to transport children to be painted yellow and be fitted with safety belts designed to be used by children.
Mr Kachapin, who was the chief guest, said the ministry had allocated money for repairs to schools which should be used to repaint the buses.
“No school should give excuses of lacking funds to repaint their buses yellow. All public schools have received money from the government and the element of repairs is factored in the capitation.”
HIKING SCHOOL FEES
The CAS also asked school administrators to hire drivers who are competent and take them for retraining and ensure they are regularly re-evaluated for the safety of the children. He further cautioned school Boards of Management against inflating school levies.
“I am conscious of the many challenges that schools continue to face as increased enrollment continues overstretching the existing infrastructure. Even though there are such challenges, all schools must stick to the gazetted fees guidelines,” he said.
He called upon members of the Board of Management to be innovative in generating funds for schools and use available resources optimally to improve the quality of education.
“Let them come up with income generating activities to support school programmes instead of hiking school fees,” he said.