Saturday, January 7, 2012

School seeks to recover Sh10 million from principal



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A primary school in Nairobi wants Sh10 million recovered from a headmistress who has since been transferred. The Parklands-based Hospital Hill Primary School management committee yesterday said the government must ensure that the mismanaged funds are recovered. Committee chairman Waweru Mathenge said headmistress Ruth Ringos, who had been at the school since November 2010, presided over the loss of Sh10 million. “When we realised anomalies we instituted a forensic audit in September last year,” Mathenge said.
He said the audit report was for the period between January and August last year. "When we instituted the forensic audit there was a lot of resistance from the City Council of Nairobi directorate of education," the committee said. Ringos gave little cooperation to the audit team where some of the serialised cashbooks were reported to be missing. “Some of the cashbooks destined for destruction were intercepted by a parent,” Mathenge said. 
According to the audit Ringos is accused of running a parallel admission programme that increased the school's population by 400 from the current 720 students. Admission for one student costs Sh19,000, which is not accounted for. The audit states that the unauthorised parallel admission programme stretched the teacher-pupil ratio to one teacher to almost 100 pupils per class. There are currently not enough desks in the classrooms. Yesterday the committee was trying to find ways to accommodate the extra pupils. 
The audit also unearthed corruption in supplies where the school used to buy a sack of potatoes at Sh9,500 instead of Sh2,700. A head of cabbage was bought at Sh150 instead of Sh30. The city council on Wednesday moved Ringos to Kimathi Primary School. The council had asked the management committee to forgive her. The management however believes that Ringos should not head any school. They have presented the audit report to the Teachers Service Commission, the city council and the Kenya Anti Corruption Commission.

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