Education Ministry Addresses Fees Controversy For Senior Schools
The Ministry of Education has denied claims that boarding prices in public senior schools had been raised ahead of the January 2026 reopening.
Education Cabinet Secretary Julius Ogamba issued a statement on Thursday calling the claims inaccurate and urging parents to dismiss them.
Ogamba reiterated that there has been no modification to the boarding fees or any other expenses owed by students in public senior institutions, and that the current rates set by the government remain in effect.
“Our attention has been drawn to reports in sections of the media to the effect that boarding fees payable by learners in public senior schools have been revised upwards,” the statement read in part.
Senior Secondary School Fees:
— Citizen TV Kenya (@citizentvkenya) November 4, 2025
Public boarding schools to charge Ksh.53,000 per year
MOE: Parents to pay ksh.53, 554 per year
Categorization of schools based on infrastructure scrapped #CitizenExplainer pic.twitter.com/BI82mjPXJo
Adding that: “Parents, learners, and the general public are hereby notified that there has been no revision of boarding fees.”
The CS underlined that the government is still committed to assisting students through the capitation programme.
He stated that the approved capitation charge for senior schools is KSh22,244 per learner per year.
Ogamba also promised parents that the government will continue to uphold its constitutional commitment to make education affordable and accessible to all students.
The clarification comes amid claims that the government was in the midst of increasing fees due to financial difficulties in the key sector.
The reports claimed that the government had established a common yearly price of Ksh53,000 for all boarding senior secondary schools in the country, a departure from the previous school-to-school approach, which the CS has rejected.
Previously, on June 16 of this year, the High Court declared that no school principal could impose these charges without approval from the Education CS.
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This followed a petition lodged by a parent from one of the parents from a premier school in Nairobi.
In many schools in Kenya, levies are often charged for specific purposes like covering operational costs, infrastructure development, extracurricular activities, money for exams, development projects, lunch programmes, or remedial classes.
Some principals, however, have allegedly been exploiting loopholes to impose unauthorised charges, a practice that stakeholders have urged the government to curb to end the vice.
Education Ministry Addresses Fees Controversy For Senior Schools
