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The government began the Free Day Secondary Education (FDSE) programme in 2008, granting capitation per learner.
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In 2008, the capitation per learner was Sh10,625. This was increased to Sh 12,870 in 2015 and then to Sh 22,244 in 2018.
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The government will next week release Sh16.25 billion to go towards Free Secondary Education capitation, this was revealed by State Department for Basic Education PS Belio Kipsang.
But what is capitation?
Capitation refers to the grant in tuition fees the government gives to every learner in its mandate to actualise the Right to Education in Kenya.
The government began the Free Day Secondary Education (FDSE) programme in 2008, granting capitation per learner.
In 2008, the capitation per learner was Sh10,625. This was increased to Sh 12,870 in 2015 and then to Sh 22,244 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 is also set by the Ministry of Education.
How the money is dished out
Capitation is sent to schools in three trenches in a year, where schools receive 50 per cent of the amount per learner in the first term, 30 per cent in the second term, and 20 per cent in the third term.
School Heads register their learners with NEMIS for them to get capitation.
How the capitation issues began
In an interview with former Kenya School Heads Association Chairperson Indimuli Kahi on November 2, 2023, Indimuli told the Star that underfunding of secondary schools began in 2019.
According to Indimuli, the problem started when funding stopped being given out per term which came as 50-30-20 per cent to funding schools quarterly according to the Financial year.
Indimuli said in 2019 when the government still dished out funding per term, schools received 95 per cent of their total budget.
"In 2019 each learner had a funding deficit of Sh 1,127," he said.
When the capitation started being dished out quarterly as per the financial year, the capitation deficit per learner increased to Sh 5,000 per learner for the 2020/21 financial year.
"The total capitation deficit for the 2020/21 financial year was Sh16 billion," Indimuli said.
For the 2021/22 Financial year, each learner had a capitation deficit of Sh4,451 which totaled up to Sh15 billion.
He said for the 2022/23 Financial year, the capitation deficit per learner stood at Sh4,905 giving a total of Sh 18 billion.
"The challenges the ministry is facing is because we have been underfunded over the years. It is not just a problem of the last financial year. From 2019 to 2023, the total capitation deficit is Sh54 billion," Indimuli said.
When the capitation slash came
On November 1, 2023, when the Education Cabinet Secretary appeared before MPs, he announced a likelihood of a capitation slash for secondary school learners come 2024 by Sh6,952 if the government fails to come in with a supplementary budget of Sh22 billion.
In 2023, learners received Sh16,428 in capitation.
For 2024, the CS said, the capital might go lower to only Sh15,476 per learner if no intervention is done to bridge the existing Sh22 billion budget gap.
Current capitation schools have received
As of March 18, 2024, PS Kipsang revealed that schools had only received 25 per cent of the expected 50 per cent capitation for the first term which ends in three weeks.
The PS said another 25 per cent will be released in 10 days.
Learner population increased by a million
Belio also explained that there has been an increase in learner population by up to one million which has been overstretching a block funding of Sh 65 billion.
“We need to increase the blocked figure of around Sh65 billion because when it was capped at Sh65 billion our secondary school student population was 3.2 million. But as of January 2024, we have 4.2 million students in our secondary school. But the amount that's continued to be given is around between Sh65 billion,” he said.
Belio said dividing the available Sh 65 billion by 4.2 million learners only allows for capitation to stand at Sh 17, 000.
Efforts to revise capitation upwards
The PS said together with their House Committee on Education they are trying to find a way to increase the budgetary allocation to Sh22,224.
“I want to confirm chair that this year with our education committee there was quite some good engagement and indications given that we shall be able to find a capitation at sh 22,224 times the number of learners,” he said.
Belio, however, did not tell when capitation will finally be given in full.