School Fees Set to Rise Ahead of January Reopening, Union Warns

Parents could face increased school fees as schools gear up for reopening on Monday, January 6. This fee hike is likely to affect parents of students in high school.

This is after the Kenya Union of Domestic, Hotels, Educational Institutions, and Hospital Workers (KUDHEIHA) expressed worry that if the government does not release capitation funds before the reopening date, parents will have to pay more fees.

The government began the Free Day Secondary Education (FDSE) program in 2008, granting capitation per learner. This is the grant in tuition fees the government gives to every learner in its mandate to actualise the right to education.

Speaking on Thursday, January 2, KUDHEIHA Secretary General Albert Njeru revealed that parents of students from Form 2 to Form 4 will have to dig deeper into their pockets and pay more.

“Capitation is granted to every student. This means that parents with students from Form 2 to Form 4 will have to sacrifice and pay more fees so that the needs of the workers, students, books, and all other school needs are met,” Njeru explained.

According to KUDHEIHA, the rise in fees is to allow schools to meet the day-to-day demands of running the institutions and pay for casual workers.

While expressing his worry about the fate of over 500,000 subordinate workers under KUDHEIHA working in secondary schools who are facing unemployment, Njeru has urged the government to come up with proper policies to govern the release of the capitation funds.

“We want to have a proper policy that will govern how to handle subordinate workers, capitation, and how these workers who were in secondary schools will be absolved into Junior Secondary Schools,” Njeru continued.

In 2008, the capitation per learner was Ksh10,625. This was increased to Ksh12,870 in 2015 and then to Ksh22,244 in 2018.

Public secondary schools were thus prohibited from charging parents tuition fees as the government catered for it. However, they were allowed to charge boarding fees, which are also set by the Ministry of Education.

Apart from the looming increased school fees, parents are also faced with the burden of increased prices on school necessities like uniforms and books.

Meanwhile, confusion has engulfed the subordinate workers working in secondary schools after the Ministry of Education declared their work redundant and resorted to laying them off.

In the letter of redundancy, the government directed the workers to leave their workstations effective January 1.

KUDHEIHA is now calling on the government to reconsider the decision and work on a plan to absolve the workers from Junior Secondary Schools.