Swazuri bars Parklands Arya Girls from converting to private school
The National Land Commission has stopped the conversion of Parklands Arya Girls High School from a public to private-owned institution.
Instead the commission has given the trustees of the school six months to surrender all the land under grant number I.R 14848 for public purpose.
“Compensation for approved buildings, if any, which exists on the land shall be paid subject to discussion and agreement between all the parties, including the Ministry of Education within the stated six months period,” said chairman Muhammad Swazuri in a letter dated February 3, 2015 and addressed to Arya Pratinidi Sabna Eastern Africa, the trustees of the school.
“The school is classified as a government school under registration number 9/A/336/84 and that such conversion effectively locks out 95 per cent of the students from the basic education,” said Dr Swazuri.
“The commission holds the view that such conversion of the school from public to private runs afoul of the Article 53(1) (b) which guarantees the right to every child to free and compulsory education.”
He said following talks with various stakeholders in education and as a means of ensuring that the school remains public, the government had elected to invoke special condition number two under grant No I.R 14848 for L.R 209/19.