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A teacher collects newly arrived Grade 10 textbooks from the collection centre in Nakuru Day Senior School on February 3, 2025.
With less than a month left before schools close, concern is mounting over a delay to give schools the balance of funds required for Term I, with principals of public secondary schools warning the weight of debt burdens threaten sustainability of the institutions.
Officially, schools are set to close Term One on April 2, 2026, for a three-week break ahead of Term Two, which begins on April 24, 2026. However, there is danger some schools might be forced to close earlier if the funds are not disbursed to cater for various needs.
The worst hit are day school which rely entirely on government funding and admit about 70 per cent of all learners in senior school. School principals now say they will struggle to administer end-of-term examinations, among other things.
Every learner in senior school is entitled to Sh22,244 per year, disbursed in three tranches at 50:30:20 per cent. At 50 per cent, the MoE ought to have sent at least Sh11,122 per learner to senior schools.
However, a Ministry of Education circular shows that each student was allocated Sh7,952.04—leaving a shortfall of about Sh3,170 per learner for Term I.
“The Ministry of Education has released FDSE funds for first term of 2026 and the second quarter of the Financial Year 2025/2026. The allocation per student is Kenya Shillings Seven Thousand Nine Hundred Fifty-Two and Four Cents only) Sh7,952.04. Enrolment used was extracted from NEMIS on 22nd April, 2025 at 7.40pm and verified by HOIs and SCDEs on 24th November, 2025,” reads the circular.
School principals who spoke to the Daily Nation also complained of debts accumulated over the years due to inadequate funding of schools.
“While the capitation arrived early this term, it was not 50 percent, and since it did not cover past balances, we are still drowning in debt,” noted a principal in Murang’a.
Similar sentiments were echoed by a senior school principal in Mombasa.
“This is the money that we are supposed to use to but exercise books, laboratory essentials, computer accessories among other things so you can imagine what a struggle it has been to survive this term,” he said.
“There are a lot of balances from last year that was not remitted just as has been the case in the previous year. This has accumulated debt for us most of it being pending bills for cereals suppliers and contractors for a school gate project,” said the principal in Makindu
Last year, public schools were forced to close a weak earlier than the scheduled date due to delays in the release of funds, throwing the academic calendar into disarray.
About a fortnight prior to this, principals in public secondary schools had demanded that the government releases Sh18 billion it owed in capitation since the beginning of the calendar year.
Through the Kenya Secondary Schools Heads Association (KESSHA), the principals warned that public secondary schools, particularly day schools, are on the brink of collapse due to delayed funds.
Following the demand by KESSHA, Treasury Cabinet Secretary John Mbadi appeared before the National assembly Committee on Education to explain inconsistencies between what is budgeted and what actually lands in the school accounts.
Mr Mbadi admitted the government has not been releasing the full allocation per learner, blaming it on constrained fiscal space.
Treasury Cabinet Secretary John Mbadi.
During the heated committee session, it emerged that instead of funding each learner in secondary school at a rate of Sh22,244 per year, Treasury has been releasing Sh16,900 per learner per year.
Emuhaya MP Omboko Milemba noted the government has been underfunding learners over the years with 2025s Term II emerging as the worst funded for students in secondary school.
“The second team is usually the longest at 14 weeks and so far, the schools have received Sh3,471 of the Sh6,673 per learner capitation and this has been the been the trend over the past three years,” he said during the committee session in July 25 2025.
The MP tabled data that showed that in 2022, Term II disbursement per learner was 4,200, in 2023, the amount released was Sh4,100 and then in 2024, it was Sh4,500. Disbursement for 2025 Term II was Sh3,471, making it the lowest ever disbursed.
Ideally, learners should be provided with tuition and operations’ cost at the rate of Sh1,420, Sh15,042 and Sh22,244 per learner in primary, junior school and senior secondary school respectively.
In March 2024, schools were grappling with early closure due to a Sh58 billion government funding shortfall, receiving only 3,877 shillings per student.
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