The Government will today make public the new school fees structure for secondary education. President Uhuru Kenyatta will launch the ‘Report of the Taskforce on Secondary School Fees 2014’ at State House this morning.
Former Education assistant minister Kilemi Mwiria who chaired the 21-member school fees review committee said they have been invited to State House at 8 am.
The Standard exclusively reported the contents of the new proposed school fees that will greatly ease parents the fees burden.
The team proposes that fees in day schools will be pegged at Sh13,708 annually. Boarding schools would charge Sh41,574 per year and parents with children in special schools would only be required to pay Sh35, 435 annually.
The revised fees, according to the review team, factor in the annual government subsidy of Sh10,265 per student.
The costs may further go down with the Government’s pledge to increase capitation to Sh13,000 per student. Students in special schools currently get an allocation of Sh20,000 per year because of the various physical and mental challenges they face.
Education Cabinet Secretary Jacob Kaimenyi set up the team to review the cost of secondary education following public outcry on the rising cost of fees.
Some schools charged up to Sh100,000 per year on school fees, locking out needy students. The team’s major task was to establish the realistic unit costs that would make quality secondary education accessible.
The document says the Ministry of Education must regulate secondary school fees based on only three categories; day, boarding and special needs schools.
In its firm recommendations, the team proposes cost-cutting measures aimed at lowering the cost of secondary education.
The measures range from elimination of unnecessary levies, limiting the components of school uniform to essential elements and developing a school meal policy for all schools within the same county.
Also proposed are development of effective staffing norms, constant maintenance of school facilities and adoption of cost-saving measures with regard to school utilities. The Dr Mwiria-led team said the new computed unit cost per item takes into account school type, costs of various inputs, per-capita spending, school activities and the overall school budget.
Broken down, the committee proposes that the cost of teaching and learning materials be put at flat rate of Sh4,792 for both boarding and day schools. Previously this vote was referred to as tuition fees.
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