The Jubilee government should come clean on the free secondary education program, Kisauni MP Ali Mbogo has said.
Mbogo said despite the government’s promise to offer free education from January, some parents have been slapped with fee structures of up to Sh17,000.
“How free is this free secondary school education?” posed Mbogo.
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He spoke on Friday at Safari Conference Hall in Bamburi when launching a scholarship scheme in Kisauni.
The scholarship will cater for the education of 170 KCPE candidates who scored over 400 marks.
Candidates who have been selected to join national schools will receive full sponsorship from the CDF kitty for the first year in secondary school.
Mbogo said the Kisauni CDF has allocated some Sh9 million for the 170 students.
He said government subsidies are too little forcing some parents to dig deep into their pockets to fund the education of their children.
“The bigger burden still lies with the parents. (Education CS Fred) Matiang’i should tell Kenyans the truth,” Mbogo said.
The MP also criticized the much-publicized free textbooks provided by the government saying some schools have instructed parents to buy books.
“We saw on TV yesterday (Thursday) parents complaining about having to buy textbooks. Weren’t these textbooks supposed to be issued by the government free of charge?” Mbogo said.
The legislature said Equity Bank's Wings to Fly scholarship program has given candidates a raw deal
Mbogo said out of 220 applicants for the scholarship in the Kisauni constituency, only eight were picked.
“Equity records billions of shillings in profit and they can only allocate Kisauni some Sh400,000? Eight students out of a population of over 200,000 is a joke,” Mbogo said.
“They could have pushed the number to at least 100. Eight is not enough, it is a shame,” Mbogo said.
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