The situation became worse this month when schools that were already charging fees way above the Education ministry guidelines defied Education Minister Sam Ongeri and increased fees.
Apart from tuition, fees include boarding and school equipment, maintenance, administration, personal emoluments, medical, insurance cover, activities and transport. Others are security services, prizes and awards, PTA projects and practical subjects.
A survey by Education reveals that national schools charge fees as high as Sh66,030, and provincial ones between Sh35,000 and Sh55,000 including the subsidy a year. According to the guidelines issued two years ago, national schools should charge a maximum of Sh26,900, provincial and district boarding (Sh22,500) and day (Sh19,000) annually.
Fail
Nairobi's Moi Girls High fee structure is one of those that fail to acknowledge the subsidy. The school's Form Two and Three students pay Sh39,197 a year. Specific items include PTA (Sh8,230) and professional service and security (Sh4,000).
At Limuru Girls High, a national school, Form One students pay Sh60,255 including the subsidy, Form Two (SH55,455), Form Three (Sh51,555) and Form Four (Sh50,055)).
Although the Government declared secondary education tuition free, the school charges Sh700 for tuition, in addition to the Sh3,600 subsidy, bringing the total to Sh4,300, and Sh700 for activities for which the Government allocates Sh600. For local travel and transport, it charges Sh2,700 besides the Sh500 subsidy and Sh9,385 for personal emoluments exclusive of a Sh3,965 subsidy. Additional costs include PTA Sh3,700 and dining hall project (Sh8,000 for Form One and Sh2,000 for Form Two students).
Limuru Girls Principal M W Khainga, who signed the fee structures, declined to comment.
"I would rather you contacted the District Education Officer on the matter…I can give you his telephone number," she said in a telephone interview.
State House Girls, a provincial school, charges Sh39,356 a year, including the subsidy for students in Form Two and Three while those in Form Four pay Sh42,556.
Remedial
A breakdown of the fees include remedial classes (Sh3,100) and personal emoluments (Sh8,180). In three-stream school with a class size of 45 students, this translates to Sh1.7 million for personal emoluments.
In a telephone interview, Prof reiterated that the fees guidelines are still valid and schools should not raise fees illegally.
But, according to Education ministry rules, schools can raise fees with the approval of the Board of Governors and District Education Boards.
Defiant head teachers say they have the necessary approval and were forced to increase fees because of escalating costs.
"School fees have to go up by over 28 per cent if schools are to operate normally," Kenya Secondary School Heads Association Chairman Cleophas Tirop says.
He argues that the cost of food and fuel have a direct impact on the management of schools.
"A 50kg bag of sugar costs Sh3,600 up from less than Sh2,000 last year. The Government caters for Sh3,965 a year for personal emoluments, forcing schools to pay workers a paltry Sh1,500 per month," claims Mr Tirop, who is also the principal of Kapsabet Boys High School.
But others say while an increase of fees may be inevitable, the high amounts and numerous charges are unjustified.
They question the sincerity of the Education ministry when it says it is working to increase access to secondary education when it has failed to take action against schools that charge as much as Sh40,000 above the guideline.
Take the case of Moi Girls' High School – Eldoret, a national school that charges Form Three students Sh55,675 annually, excluding the subsidy, to be paid in term one and two. When the subsidy is added, the fees amounts to Sh66,030.
Among the items in the free structure are Sh11,400 for water, electricity and conservancies, PTA (Sh6,000), boarding (Sh22,000) and personal emoluments (Sh8,100).
Electricity
In a three-steam school with a class size of 45 this translates to Sh6.2 million a student for electricity, water and conservancies a year.
We called the school several times and spoke to two secretaries who said the principal was chairing a staff meeting. "Parents paying by installments are strictly advised to pay not less than three quarters of term's fee on or before the opening day and balance by half term," states the fee structure that is signed by the principal Mrs JJ Cheruiyot.
The high utility costs have raised eyebrows. Government estimates show that a student in a public secondary school spent between Sh6,000 and Sh7,000 a year on tuition and operational costs before the subsidy was introduced last year.
Tirop says the Sh500 Government allocation for water and electricity is too little. "The Government should increase the subsidy a student to Sh13,739," Tirop says.
Ongeri threatened to crack the whip on schools that charge illegal levies.
He said his ministry disbursed money to all schools for 1.4 million students before Christmas. "The money is in school accounts…I do not want any excuses," he said.
Parents and guardians complain that school fees continue to escalate even after the introduction of subsidies.
A philanthropic organisation that relies on funds from donors to educate the bright, needy children say they increase has forced them to cut down on the number of students they support.
The Youth Sponsorship Programme that sponsors 141 students in public secondary schools countrywide is one such institution.
The Programme Director, Karin Rapp, says the organisation planned to sponsor 20 Form One next students but it may be forced to reduce the number. The organisation pays fees for 33 students in national, 19 in provincial schools, and 45 in colleges and universities.
"We have paid fees for bright but disadvantaged children over the past 30 years but public schools have this year made it difficult for us," she says.
Discouraged
Beneficiaries are from single parented families living in Mathare and Kibera slums.
"We get discouraged when students we support are kicked out and principals just will not listen," Rapp says.
The story is the same in rural schools. Amani Child Development Programme in Siaya is battling with inflated fees.
The director Reverend Kenneth Wachianga says the many items in school fees may make donors cut their aid on fees.
"Foreign donors know the Government subsidises secondary education so they think the fee structures we send them are fake," he says.
He accuses principals for running the public institutions like their personal property.
"There are several levies that we as sponsors only see in fee structures but are never discussed in PTA meetings," he says.
The Youth Sponsorship Programme wrote a letter to Ongeri to intervene as schools continue to turn a deaf ear on his directives on low fees. – By Harold Ayodo