Hope for lower fees this term dashed as State breaks pledge

By AUGUSTINE ODUOR

Nairobi, Kenya: As schools reopen this week, parents will have to contend with high tuition fees despite a Government promise that the charges would be reviewed.

A taskforce that was established to review school fees, following a public uproar after it was reported  that some national public secondary schools were charging as high as Sh100,000, is yet to complete its work.

The review was ordered after it emerged that some parents had been forced to remove their children from  national schools since they could not afford the high fees charged by the institutions, which was way beyond the Sh18,000 per year recommended  by the Government.  The Government is supposed to pay an additional Sh10,265 for every student.

Sources have disclosed that there will be no immediate respite for parents, saying the review team’s new fees guidelines, currently in the works, can only be implemented in January next year.

Education Principal Secretary Bellio Kipsang, yesterday said all schools have been advised to use last year’s fees structure this term.

“We had advised them to use last year’s fees structure and that is what they shall use,” said the PS.

He said school administrators have also been warned against introducing any other levies until the review team compiles its report and makes recommendations.

The delayed schools fees review is a setback to parents who anticipated a major review as they send their children back to school this week.

Unveiling the team early this year, Education Cabinet Secretary Jacob Kaimenyi pledged that the report would be ready ahead of second term, which starts today.

He said schools would open this term to revised fees and levies guidelines. The team is chaired by former Education PS Kilemi Mwiria.

Parents who spoke to The Standard yesterday were disappointed by the slow pace of government intervention in revising down the high school fees.

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“We are really disappointed because Ministry of Education officials only make announcements and issue threats but the real situation in schools will be different. I can assure you teachers will again increase fees and nobody will bother to check,” said a parent in one of the County schools.

Another parent at a Nairobi school said: “the ministry should have come up with an interim school fees guideline as they wait for the main report. I wonder why they never think fast and plan ahead of time.”

And yesterday, Dr Kipsang said the review team had not completed its work and noted that it is important they be allowed time to do “comprehensive” work.

 “We do not want to rush them because this is more than school fees,” he said.

The PS said the team was at “an advanced stage” and asked parents to be patient.

“They have been collecting information and we should give them time. They have already met Members of Parliament, senators, students council leaders and other education stakeholders,” said the PS.

He said the report would be ready for use in third term but a member of the taskforce said the team had agreed that the new fees guidelines can only be implemented starting next year.

“Schools run a yearly budget and so they should be able to manage to the end of the year,” said the member who did not want to be named because all review team members were asked not to speak to the press.

He added: “This is a scientific process and we must follow the due process. We did a comprehensive situation analysis; we have done literature review and also collected data. What we are currently doing is gathering more data and analysing the same.”

The task force was put together after parents protested the rising school fees in secondary schools.

Kenya National Association of Parents and Teachers chairman Nathan Barasa said the fees paid in some schools was higher than university fees.