Malava Girls Principal rallies parents to register children on SHA, decries huge fee arrears

Parents who have not registered with the Social Health Authority (SHA) and listed their children as dependents will be required to personally offset their children’s medical bills.

This is according to a circular by Health Principal Secretary to school across the country.

Addressing parents at Friends School Malava Girls during an AGM meeting, school Principal Rose Abuko told parents to ensure that their children are listed as their beneficiaries.

At the same time, she said that should there arise a case that needs medical attention, the school lacks the capacity to cater for such cases.

The school will only act on emergencies where it will take the student to hospital and inform the parents to later to settle their bills.

“The ongoing Social Health Authority (SHA) enrolment should be embraced by parents who should enroll their children to it as it will stand in for them while sick at school,” she noted.

“We are experiencing difficulties in handling sick learners who are not on any medical cover forcing us to stand in for the hospital bills and later billing the parents, but this trend should stop as we do not have money for the medical emergencies,” she said.

Also, she emphasized the need for the parents to be more responsible in handling the girl child as they play a vital role in their future lives.

“I’m advising those single mothers and guardians who are raising these girls to be open and inform them of their fathers’ whereabouts to enable them relate and quench their curiosity considering that the father figure is critically important in the lives of these teenagers of age (15-18), failure to which they will be academically detached,” he advised.

“It is important for the fathers to be present in their girls lives as a that age their father is very precious to them and she won’t concentrate in class until she finds out who and where her father is,” she added.

She pointed out family wrangles as one of the major contributors to poor performances where learners are perturbed by the family disputes and absentee fathers.  

The Principal observed the trend where the parents had neglected disciplinary roles and left it to the school and hardly engage their children.

“It is shocking to note that most parents fear their teenage girls and cannot utter anything towards them in terms of instilling sense into them as they fear that they will get annoyed and do something silly to themselves, and this trend has made the girls ‘grow horns’ even at school and this negatively impacts on performance,” she lamented.

On those students who get pregnant, she cautioned that the school will retain them but there will be no special treatment and diet for them as the school will not change its routine to favour them.

On bursary she faulted parents who were not applying for it and yet they were not paying fees on time.

“There are many bursaries from the county to the national government and even financial institutions which those parents having difficulties paying fees should take advantage, let us not be even too lazy to go for these bursaries as they will cushion you,” she advised.  

She noted that the fee arrears at the school is huge and stands Ksh.3.6 million hence hence affecting the smooth running of learning activities at the institution