Education Cabinet Secretary Ezekiel Machogu has ruled out increasing fees for public schools and instead asked principals to be more prudent with the funds they receive from the government and parents.
“Boarding fees charged in public secondary schools will remain unchanged in 2024. We can’t increase a single cent because everybody us feeling the pinch of the economy. We do an assessment every year to determine the amount we’re meant to give our schools,” the CS said.
He said that in the future, a taskforce could be formed for a stakeholder engagement.
“I strongly urge all principals and boards of management to prudently use these funds for their intended purposes. Schools will continue to receive funds based on accurate enrolment data submitted by principals through the National Education Management Information System,” he added.
He was speaking at the KCB Leadership Centre in Karen, Nairobi when he commissioned 1,000 KCB Foundation scholars who won four-year scholarships.
The assertion by the CS comes amid reports that some schools have been dragged to court by suppliers over debts incurred for the supply of goods and services.
Principals accuse the government of failure to increase capitation funds for learners and argue that the cost of commodities had gone up since the last time the allocation was revised in 2018.
Data from the government also shows that close to 800,000 students remain unfunded as the budgetary allocation falls below the actual amount of money required by the learners.
A spot check by the “Nation” as Form One students reported to school shows that a number of schools have overshot the limits set by the government.
The government allocates each learner in a public school Sh22,244 for tuition under the Free Day Secondary Education programme.
According to the Ministry of Education guidelines, national schools should not charge more than Sh53,554 annually while extra-county schools should charge Sh40,535.
The government allocates Sh57,974 for learners with special needs, with the parents being expected to pay Sh12,790 annually. All special secondary schools are categorised as national because they draw learners from across the republic based on the nature of their disability.
Last year, the leadership of the Kenya Secondary Schools Heads Association wrote a proposal to the Ministry of Education recommending a fees increase to bridge the funding gaps.
The Group CEO of KCB Paul Russo said that the scholarship programme attracted over 12,000 applicants who were interviewed before 2,000 were shortlisted and the final number arrived at. The selected students will add to the 4,657 others who have gone through the programme and benefitted from Sh1.2 billion paid in fees.
Mr Machogu said that the Elimu Scholarship Programme, which is facilitated by the Jomo Kenyatta Foundation and the Equity Bank Foundation, will benefit 9,000 learners joining Form One this year.
“For affirmative action, candidates with special needs and disabilities who attained below 280 marks were eligible. Learners from vulnerable and marginalised groups with 250 marks and above were also eligible,” the CS said.
The Basic Education Principal Secretary Belio Kipsang said that the ministry is building the capacity of the Jomo Kenyatta Foundation to coordinate the awarding of bursaries. This is in line with the recommendations of the Presidential Working Party on Education Reforms.
On schools whose Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education examination results were withheld for suspected malpractices, Mr Machogu said that their fate will be know from next week.
