Principals of many schools across the country have asked parents to pay extra school fees outside the official figures set by the Ministry of Education, citing inadequate allocation of funds by the government.
Investigations by the Business Daily reveal that schools have devised various methods to charge the extra levies and avoid detection by auditors or punishment by the State. Others have formalised the fees increase by making the parents ascent to the changes during annual general meetings.
In some cases, the illegal levies are deposited in accounts separate from the official ones that the MoE deposits money for schools. The levies are also never receipted.
“These hidden charges not tabulated in the fee structure have become a challenge to us, how to do we explain that to auditors. Fees increase and school amounts been paid in different school fees accounts but not indicated in the fees structure is something the Ministry of Education must address,” said Ndaragua MP George Gachagua.
The chair of the Senate Education Committee Joe Nyutu said parents countrywide are complaining of the school fees increases.
The extra levies often cater for things like remedial teaching, commonly referred to as motivation, purchase of school buses, uniforms at controlled outlets or construction of various facilities in schools.
A parent from St Joseph Tigithi Boys High School said on top of the official Term One fees of Sh20,268, she is required to pay an additional Sh1,500 towards purchase of solar panels, Sh1,200 for remedial teaching and Sh1,000 for bread, yet she has a fees arrears of Sh12,000.
The parent who operates an eatery in Nanyuki Town wonders why all those charges are not included in the annual fees structure, some of which are never receipted upon payment.
He said some of the extra charges in some schools have not been properly sanctioned by the Parents Association as per the Ministry of Education regulations or are hurriedly passed during annual general meetings where dissenting voices are tactfully suppressed.
"I have applied to be considered for the NG-CDF and county government bursaries but even if I am lucky, the money isn’t enough and is normally disbursed at the middle of the term when students have already been sent home to collect the fees," lamented a parent whose son is set to join Form Two.
Another parent at Nanyuki Girls Secondary School is expected to pay Sh6,000 for a bus project and Sh1,500 for remedial teaching, on top of the Sh19,893 fees for Term One.
"Besides the usual shopping, I am required to raise a total of Sh27,500 before my daughter is allowed into the school where she will be joining Form Three this January. I am bitter with the bus project since we never agreed to pay money for the project when it was proposed during the AGM but it has been forced on us," said the woman who is second-hand clothes dealer.
