Education Cabinet Secretary Ezekiel Machogu has said secondary school fees as laid out by the government cannot be increased despite the rising inflation.
Machogu was reminiscent that in 2018 the government set up a task force where stakeholders gave their views and set the fees to be charged in public secondary schools.
It was then concluded that the fee chargeable was Sh53,000 for national and extra county schools and Sh45,000 for county schools.
"Since that time, as a ministry, we do an assessment each year to determine the amount of money we are supposed to give to our national and extra county schools as well as boarding schools," he said.
Machogu noted that the 2018 task force set the capitation per learner in boarding school at Sh22,240.
He said the government has already released part of the capitation which is Sh16.5 billion for secondary schools.
The CS said the ministry held an assessment and held discussions with principals and the board of management plus directors in the field on school fees.
"For now we think and we consider the amount that parents are supposed to pay as adequate," he said.
He said before the 2018 taskforce there were schools which were charging up to Sh200,000 thus education was not affordable to quite a number of Kenyans.
"This particular time we are saying we want education accessible to all Kenyans because it is something entrenched in the constitution," Machogu said.
He said fees cannot be increased as the ministry does not want to overstretch the parents.
With the capitation the government provides, Machogu said some schools even save some money after procuring foodstuffs and paying for operation costs.
"Go to some of these national and extra county schools, you will find that they are undertaking some infrastructural development in the institution. The money comes from saving which has been done out of the money that the government gives and out of what parents pay as school fees," he said.
Machogu said school fees cannot be increased because both the government and parents are feeling the pinch of the economy.
"Probably as we move forward we will be able to come up with another task force and hold a stakeholder engagement and out of that we might factor in cost of living and other things," he said.
Machogu said for now school fees shall remain as it is.
