Senior secondary school principals have proposed a new fee structure, citing rising operational costs and inadequate government support, which they say have made financing education tough.

🇰🇪 Breaking It Down

The proposal, presented during the Kenya Secondary Schools Heads Association (KESSHA) conference in Mombasa, seeks to review fees that have remained unchanged since 2015.

Under the proposed structure, day school students would pay annual fees of Ksh37,675, while learners in county boarding schools would pay up to Ksh87,781 after government capitation.

According to KESSHA, the government currently provides Ksh22,244 per learner annually through capitation, but the delays in the release of the funds have left schools struggling.

📌 What You Need to Know

KESSHA National Chairman Willy Kuria said the current funding framework no longer reflects the realities facing schools and demanded immediate change in the school fees structure.

“The current fees charged in secondary schools were set in 2015, about 11 years ago. It is therefore no longer possible to sustainably run our institutions under the existing framework,” Kuria said.

He noted that analysis showed that the actual annual cost of educating a student in a national school has risen to Ksh110,025, while the figure stands at Ksh105,866 for learners in extra-county schools and Ksh87,675 for those in county schools.

According to the school heads, food remains one of the biggest cost drivers in boarding institutions, with the prices of essential commodities rising sharply over the past decade.

“The movement in the price index of goods and services between 2015 and 2026 reflects a substantial increase in the general cost of living and, by extension, the cost of running educational institutions,” Kuria explained.

The principals further argued that depreciation of the Kenyan shilling and the rising cost of educational resources have widened the gap between government funding and actual school expenditure.

📰 Source: Kenyans.co.ke