Last month, a group of Brookhouse school parents demanded that the school stop charging them full school fees during the duration of Covid-19 closures.
What started as a social media protest by the likes of lawyer Ahmednassir Abdullahi, soon found its way to the courtrooms.
The parents were arguing that Brookhouse has been charging them full fees, but parents are doing the bulk of the work. Pupils have been attending daily virtual lessons, which the group of parents argue has left parents with a lot of burden.
They say that the cost of electricity, internet, computers, printing etc. has been left to them, yet Brookhouse is collecting its full amount. Fees at the premier international school range from ksh 150,000 for the lowest level to Sh1.5 million a term for seniors.
The parents were successful in their suit, with the court ruling that they pay only half of term three’s fee, until the case is fully heard and determined.
Read: Here’s That Brookhouse School Fee Structure That Has Shocked Kenyans
But this reprieve appears to be short lived.
Nadim Nsouli, the chairman of InspirED – the education consortium that owns Brookhouse among other top international schools across the world, has fought back.
The Lebanese/British national is a very wealthy individual, and in a very detailed way, told Ahmednassir and the dissenting parents to f*ck off.
In minutes of a Zoom meeting appearing online, Nadim reminded the parents that he recently invested $25 million (Sh2.6 billion) in opening Brookhouse Runda. He said his purpose here is to make money, and a few individuals will not make him operate his business at a loss.
Nadim added that from all his 64 schools, the Kenyan parents were the ones giving him a headache, and he will not let them.
“I have never encountered such behavior from any other schools, or ever in my life.”
He would rather have 40% of the school population paying 100% of the fee, than 100% of the population paying 40%.
He added that they’ve been losing money since day one of Covid-19, and they are not going to change their position. “The assumption worldwide that we’re making savings by physical schools being closed is false.”
Read: VIDEO – Watch Anne Waiguru’s Son Deliver His TED Talk at Brookhouse
Nadim revealed that he has 6000 employees to support worldwide, from teachers to pool cleaners.
He also castigated the parents for refusing to take advantage of a ‘distress fund’, accusing them of being too embarrassed and proud to accept help.
Parents had demanded to see itemized breakdown of costs during this period, which Nadim told them is none of their business.
In conclusion, Nadim tells the parents that he will not honour their demands, and if they won’t pay him full fees, they should leave.
To show how irked he was, Nadim demanded that any arrears of the current term and before must be cleared by end of day Monday, or the students involved would be cut off.
He agreed to extend the deadline to end of week if the parents agreed to end the negotiations and drop the suit by end of day Monday.
Here’s are the full minutes.
