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A major row is brewing in Uasin Gishu county over the ownership of the prestigious day and boarding of Kipkeino Primary School on Eldoret-Webuye highway.

The school’s parents have vehemently opposed plans to change ownership of the institution founded by legendary Olympic champion Kipchoge Keino’s wife, Phyllis Keino from public to a private school.

It is currently managed and sponsored by Kipkeino/Lewa Children Home and offers Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) whose exams are administered by the Kenya National Examinations Council under the Ministry of Education.

Enraged parents said they have invested a lot in the school by paying huge school fees that range between Sh100,000 to Sh160,000 per year to develop the current infrastructure at the school.

They have accused the family of the legendary athlete Kipchoge Keino of managing the school as a family property yet the school is benefiting from FPE funding as well as textbooks from the national government. “For a long time this school has been serving us as a public school and as parents, we took the pain of paying fees knowing that the school is a public institution and our role was to help in developing it to its current status,” said one of the parents who sought anonymity.

The parents took issue with senior education officials both from the national and county government for being silent about their concerns about the running and management of the school yet it is a public institution.

They were reacting to an invitation from the Ministry of Education to convert Kipkeino Primary School from Public to Private status. In a notice, the Ministry invited members of the public or organisations objecting to the move to do so through a written submission.

The notice states in part: “Individuals, institutions or organizations with objection (s) or comment (s) to such conversion to submit them in writing within fourteen (14) days of the date of this notice to “ school Administrator or hand delivered to the school office building.

According to the ministry, Kipkeino Primary School is a public education institution in Eldoret North, Turbo sub county.

The disgruntled parents said that they have written several letters to the ministry of education to address their concerns on the matter in vain.

“We have raised our concerns to various government institutions but they have chosen to remain silent,” said one of the parents from the school representing one of the classes in the institution.

 School registration certificate in our possession indicates that the school was registered as a public school on January 3,2001 by the ministry of education with registration no G/PE/0011/2001 as a public primary school.

 Some of the parents alleged that retired president the late Daniel arap Moi donated 200 acres of land that the school sits on. According to the parents, the donation from the retired president was made in the 1980s. A meeting that was called by the management to inform the more than 200 parents about the planned change of ownership ended prematurely.

The family of Kipkeino insists that the school has never been a public school yet it is benefitting from public funding including government of Kenya textbooks meant for public schools.

Ironically, the family of Kipkeino has insisted that the school has never been a public institution. The family, through documents presented to the media, said the school was registered as a private school after they purchased the property hosting the school in 1987.

The family revealed that the land on which the school is built on is private land whose title deed was under Phyllis Keino, title number: Kiplombe/Kiplombe Block 5 (Kaptich)/66 (now under Lewa Children’s Home Trust). The family further maintained that Kipkeino School occupies 30 acres within the above-mentioned title and not 200 acres as claimed by the disgruntled parents.

The family stated that in 1987, the Kipkeino family sought approval from the District Education Office, Uasin Gishu District, to establish a school in aid of the registered charity: Kipkeino Children’s Home (that is now known as Lewa Children’s Home) with the vision of educating children within the community while delivering quality education for both the vulnerable children at the Home and Community at large.

“Kipkeino family and friends, both locally and internationally, pulled together private resources through donor support to aid the vision of a quality education for all children,” stated the family through Andrew Kiptoo. Kiptoo is also a board member of the school management.

 He said that later on the Education office in Uasin Gishu advised the school to re-register as a public school to facilitate deployment of TSC teachers.

 Despite parent’s claims that the school is benefitting from FPE and free text books from the government, the family has maintained that the school has never received any development funds from either National Government Constituency Development Fund (CDF) or any fundraising conducted by parents of the school.

 “The school has only been receiving funding from Lewa Children’s Home Trust and the Keino family for further school development and not the government,” stated Kiptoo on behalf of the family.

Kiptoo said they decided to go private to allow the family fully run and manage affairs of the schools without depending on TSC teachers but instead employ their own tutors

 Locals residing around the school have objected to the plans to change the ownership of the school from public to private status saying their input was not sought on the matter which they termed as sensitive.