The burden on parents could become heavier if proposals by secondary school principals to increase fees by up to Sh18,000 a year are adopted.
The Kenya Secondary Schools Heads Association (Kessha) has proposed the new fee structure for national, extra-county, county and day schools in a report to the Ministry of Education, citing huge budget deficits.If approved, fees in extra-county schools will go up by 17,773, pushing the annual cost to Sh80,452, up from the current Sh62,679.
Parents with children in national schools will fork out an additional Sh15,848, raising the annual fees to Sh91,646. The current annual fees in the 103 national schools is capped at Sh75,798.And for county schools, parents would pay an additional Sh7,537, which would increase the fees to Sh70,216, up from the current Sh62,679.
Even with the current rates, parents have protested about questionable additional levies that are in violation of the ministry’s fees guidelines that drive up the cost in excess of Sh20,000 in some instances.The headteachers also want purchase of textbooks suspended and the money used to equip information and communication technology (ICT) and laboratories.
