Brookhouse loses Sh300m, parents refuse to pay fees: The Standard

Brookhouse International now claims it has lost more than Sh300 million as parents insist there was no contract to offer online classes to their children. Brookhouse lawyer Twalib Mbarak told High Court Judge Weldon Korir the orders he issued barring the management from demanding full school fees for the virtual classes had pushed it into losses. Twalib claimed the institution was still incurring operational costs and paying salaries and which has not changed due to Covid-19 pandemic. “By you hearing cases online, the Judiciary’s budget has not been reduced. As we speak, the school has failed to recover Sh300 million,” Twalib claimed.

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On the other hand, parents told the court the school never consulted them before they opted to offer online classes. The parents, code-named BPA, argue that Education Cabinet Secretary George Magoha had issued a circular closing all schools due to Covid-19. Through their lawyers Issa Mansur and Omwanza Ombati, the parents argued that their children are subjected to dangerous activities at home, which include taking practicals without their teachers supervision. Online parades A day for a Brookhouse student starts at 8am when he or she is expected to take the first lesson via free software zoom. It emerges that they have ‘online parades’ each morning after which they retreat to their respective online class.

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If a parent has more than one child, he or she will have to buy each child a computer as the lessons run simultaneously. At the end of the lesson, which lasts at least 20 minutes, the teacher sends the day’s assignment, which the parent is expected to print, sit with the child to supervise the assignment, scan it and send it back to the school. Children are also getting online physical exercise classes, which include swimming, although they are practically glued to their computers. Court documents filed before the High Court read that other private schools that have the same status as Brookhouse have reduced their fees for online schooling. The parents raised fears of their children being exposed to online abuse. According to Mansur and Ombati, there is a high risk in exposing minors to online content which is not properly regulated by the government.

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The lawyers asserted that virtual learning was not part of the contract that parents signed for the school to offer. “Concerns by parents about virtual learning were not addressed,” Omwanza said.