Education Cabinet Secretary Ezekiel Machogu has weighed in on the looming increment of school fees starting January 2023.
Speaking in Wajir County, Machogu clarified that the government had not changed the fee structure for public secondary schools.
According to the CS, they are instead reverting to the rates charged prior to the pandemic.
“We have not changed the school fees and if it is to be done, there is to be another task force and Kenyans know that we have a presidential working team (Competency-Based Curriculum taskforce) which is moving around the country,” he stated.
“As of January 23, we will have three terms the way it used to be before the fees structure remains the same as that of two years ago,” he added.
According to the Education CS, any changes made to the school fee rates would occasion the formation of a task force that would evaluate and collect reviews from stakeholders before it is implemented.
“Anybody saying the figure has been changed, that is not here in Kenya. Changing school fees would need another task force,” he noted.
An earlier circular from the ministry indicated that the fees would rise as a result of the government ending fee subsidies for public schools.
According to the circular, students in national and extra-county schools would pay Ksh53,554, up from the present Ksh45,000.
Those with children in public secondary schools outside the towns of Nairobi, Mombasa, Kisumu, Nakuru, Nyeri, Thika, and Eldoret will part with Ksh40,000, up from Ksh35,000. This meant that parents had to factor in an increment ranging between Ksh5,535 and Ksh8,500.
Equally, children in Special Needs Secondary Schools would pay Ksh12,790 from the initial Ksh10,860 per year.
During the 2021/2022 school calendar, the government subsidised school fees owing to the ravaging effects of the pandemic. The Ministry of Education noted that the calendar had 30 weeks instead of the normal 39.
Source: kENYANS.CO.KE