Government releases Sh400million to pay school fees for needy learners
At least 22,000 needy learners under presidential bursary scheme will have their school fees paid after the government released Sh400 million.
The funds are part of the Sh8.95 billion released by the government to cushion vulnerable families under the cash transfer programme.
Special Programmes Cabinet Secretary Margaret Kobia said that all constituencies will get an equal allocation of Sh1.3 million.
“The aim of the bursary is to enhance secondary school access, class attendance and completion,” she said.
In 2020, the government released Sh32.5 billion to cater for free day secondary schools in the country.
According to Education Cabinet Secretary George Magoha, each student is to get Sh22, 240 annually.
The Sh2,000 is to cater for students’ medical expenses and insurance, while Sh4,414 will purchase teaching, learning and examination materials.
“I want to reconfirm once again that the day secondary school’s capitation is already in schools,” he said.
In the fee structure, the government assured that it will pay for each student’s basic needs through NEMIS, irrespective of the school category.
The Ministry expects each school must be duly registered and headed by the Teachers Service Commission appointed Principal.
Schools and their bank accounts must be registered on the NEMIS platform, Magoha said.
In the 2021/2022 school fees structure for all secondary schools under the government’s Free Day Secondary Education (FDSE) programme, Government subsidy to schools will be Sh22,244.00 annually per learner.
The amount will cover for tuition fee which is Sh 4,144, medical/ insurance at Sh2,000, activity at Sh1,500, SMASSE at Sh200, other vote heads at Sh9,400 and maintenance and improvement at Sh5,000.
Other vote heads are local travel and transport, administration, electricity, personnel emolument.
The Sh22,444 capitation grant is disbursed to schools’ operations and tuition bank accounts in an equal installment of 25 per cent per quarter of the fiscal year.
This means that secondary schools receive about Sh5700 per quarter.
The money is distributed according to the number of students a school has registered on the NEMIS platform.
The subsidy provided to each student in boarding schools by the government is the same as that of day secondary school as shown in the table above.
Parents are required to pay boarding fees applicable to different categories of schools and locations as highlighted below.
Boarding school fees for National Schools in Nairobi, Mombasa, Nakuru, Kisumu, Nyeri, Thika, and Eldoret (Category A schools) are required to pay Sh45,000 from parents and the government will pay Sh22,244 (capitation), which leads to a total of Sh67, 244.
On the other hand, school fees for all boarding schools and extra county schools that are in Nairobi, Mombasa, Nakuru, Kisumu, Nyeri Thika, and Eldoret is Sh35,000 from parents and Sh22,244 room government which leads to a total of Sh57,244 per year.
Parents with students in special needs schools will pay Sh10,860 per year and the government will pay Sh53,807.
Parents will also pay and addition of Sh2,000 per student as parent contribution in the first term of reporting.
