Afresh storm has greeted President William Ruto’s revival of a plan for school fees payments to be made through the e-Citizen platform, with critics accusing the State of ignoring the realities facing parents and schools.
This followed President Ruto’s insistence that the policy would be implemented despite resistance from school heads, parents, and education lobby groups.
There is also a pending Court of Appeal decision, following last year’s High Court ruling that quashed its implementation.
On Thursday, the President defended the directive, saying that digitising school fee payments would enhance accountability and close loopholes associated with cash transactions.
“From today, parents should be able to pay fees from home via e-Citizen , where we can verify the data. I have made the strategic decision that this administration will not deal in cash because cash is very sticky. Help us. Why do you want to continue writing receipts on pieces of paper that cannot be traced?” President Ruto told the second annual education conference in Naivasha.
However, education experts and school heads warned that the reality of school fee payments, which are often made at different times throughout the term while schools require cash for daily supplies, meant that many people would be excluded.
“President William Ruto’s push for schools to adopt e-Citizen for school fee payments reminds the public of the insensitivity that his administration has adopted when dealing with matters at the heart of citizens,” said Boaz Waruku, Policy and Strategy Advisor at the Elimu Bora Working Group.
He argued that many parents in rural communities pay school fees through arrangements negotiated with schools, such as supplying firewood, food or labour. This enables their children to remain in education despite financial hardship.
“e-Citizen poses the danger of frustrating parents who pay school fees in kind, through labour, firewood, food and other negotiated terms that make it convenient for parents to pay while their children continue to learn,” he said.
Mr Waruku said that the concerns raised by stakeholders were among the reasons why some school heads and education stakeholders had taken the government to court, seeking orders to quash the directive.
The State’s e-Citizen payment platform.
He also accused the government of passing the buck to parents instead of ensuring that schools are adequately funded.
“By insisting that the government will not reverse the policy of requiring parents to pay school fees via e-Citizen, the president is shirking his administration’s cardinal principle and role of securing adequate resources for schools, thereby hindering learning,” he said, adding: “He should consult teachers, parents and stakeholders to understand why they oppose this policy.”
Dr Emmanuel Manyasa, Executive Director of Usawa Agenda, said that while the government’s push to channel school fees through the e-Citizen platform is well-intentioned and could help to make schools more accountable, the authorities must also consider the difficulties faced by vulnerable parents.
Usawa Agenda Executive Director Dr Emmanuel Manyasa.
Photo credit: Francis Nderitu | Nation Media Group
He noted that, in many parts of the country, schools still accept fees in kind — including maize, beans, vegetables, firewood, and other farm produce — to ensure that children from poor families can remain in class.
“Some principals are asking parents to bring vegetables, maize or firewood to help cover the school fees and ensure their children can stay in education. These unique situations therefore, need to be considered. If e-Citizen streamlines how schools receive and spend money, there won’t be a problem, but flexibility is important,” he said.
He warned that forcing parents to sell their produce before paying through e-Citizen could disadvantage them, as they may end up selling at very low prices.
“If they are told to sell the maize or vegetables first and then pay through e-Citizen, they may receive a much lower market price than the school would have accepted directly,” he said.
From January 31 2024, the government directed schools to start processing fees through the e-Citizen platform and ordered principals to submit school bank account details to the State Department for Basic Education by February 6, 2024.
However, this directive was met with strong opposition from school principals and lobby groups, who claimed that the system was impractical, particularly for rural schools.
They also raised concerns about poor internet connectivity and limited access to digital services among parents in rural areas, warning that mandatory online payments would exclude vulnerable families.
They also questioned the logistics of centralising school funds through the government platform, saying that delays in returning funds to schools could disrupt daily operations. In April 2025, the High Court declared the directive unconstitutional, citing a lack of public participation.
“There was no legal basis for directing parents to pay school fees through e-Citizen. The directive was issued without stakeholders’ engagement in violation of Articles 10 and 232 of the Constitution,” the High Court ruled.
It added: “School fees are not, strictly speaking, government money or revenue to be collected by the national government. The directive failed to take into account those parents who may not access internet services, have no phones, and those who pay school fees in kind, a violation of those parents’ legitimate expectation. The directive also poses potential indirect discrimination in violation of the Constitution.”
Principals say the government is trying to impose a one-size-fits-all system without fully understanding how many schools survive amid poverty, delayed salaries and unreliable incomes.
“In my school, not every parent is able to pay fees in cash. Some bring firewood or farm produce, and as a school we are forced to look for ways of converting those into money so that learning can continue. That is the reality in many rural areas. So when the government insists on mandatory payment through e-Citizen, we have to ask: Has anyone really gone to the ground to understand how these schools survive? Policies cannot just be announced from the office without considering the realities parents and schools are dealing with every day,” said one principal from Kakamega.
“Government policies must reflect the realities in our schools. In my school, we deal with parents from very humble backgrounds, and not all of them can access digital payment systems easily. Some pay in bits, while others bring whatever they can to support the school. So before making e-Citizen mandatory for school fees, there should have been proper consultations with principals, parents and communities to understand the challenges schools are facing on the ground,” added a principal from Rift Valley.
In November 2025, the Court of Appeal declined to suspend a judgment that quashed the government’s directive requiring parents to pay school fees through the e-Citizen platform.
National Secretary of the Kenya Teachers in Hardship and Arid Areas Welfare Association Ndung’u Wangenye.
Ndung’u Wangenye, National Secretary of the Kenya Teachers in Hardship and Arid Areas Welfare Association (KETHAWA), said the success of the proposed e-Citizen fee payment system will depend on whether schools can access the money instantly after parents make payments.
He warned that delays in remitting funds could paralyse school operations and defeat the purpose of digitising fee collection.
“Paying through e-Citizen is not a problem. The issue is whether schools can access the money immediately after parents pay and whether parents can see the payment reflected in the system,” he said.
He also urged the government to accommodate parents who pay fees in kind through labour, firewood, maize or other arrangements agreed upon with schools.
“We must strike a balance between parents paying through e-Citizen and those paying in kind. Parents should not be forced to sell their maize before taking children to school,” he said.
Mr Wangenye proposed a system where payments made through e-Citizen are automatically transferred directly into school accounts to avoid bureaucratic delays.
“The money should roll over instantly to the school account instead of first being collected centrally and redistributed later,” he said.
