The once-much-touted free secondary school education has become an increasingly unattainable dream. A new survey has just found that 64.9 per cent of day-school learners are sent home or denied access to class because of illegal levies.
The comprehensive study highlights how rampant hidden costs undermine the country’s constitutional commitment to free and compulsory basic education. Bearing the brunt are these learners as their families struggle to pay the various fees.
In contrast, 40.5 per cent of learners in boarding schools are affected. This makes a mockery of the free day secondary education policy, with the learners it was meant to assist facing exclusion over the numerous school levies.
The charges are rampant in the public secondary schools. They range from Sh15,000 to Sh20,000 in day schools, rising to as much as Sh60,000 in the boarding institutions. The illegal levies are often demanded verbally to avoid scrutiny. They include charges for lunch, remedial and holiday tuition, motivation, development, and ICT and computers.
Critics have continually dismissed the Free Day Secondary Education (FDSE) as a fallacy because of the severe systemic deficits it faces. While the programme was meant to alleviate the parents’ financial burden, persistent capitation delays and budget shortfalls expose the promises against the reality on the ground.
Though the official government target has been set at Sh22,244 per learner annually, schools regularly receive much less. This has direct consequences on performance, contributing to 51.1 per cent of day scholars and 29.3 per cent of boarding students missing their examinations.
Pressure is mounting on the Ministry of Education to ensure a systematic audit of the current public school fee structures and strictly enforce disciplinary measures against the administrators levying the unauthorised levies.
The illegal levies are a veritable barrier to the constitutional right to education. The government should not allow the learners to be punished for their parents’ inability to pay.
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