Section of Kiharu Parents Protest Day School Fees Despite Ndindi Nyoro’s Ksh.500 Pledge

Parents in Kiharu Constituency, Murang’a County, have voiced sharp outrage over what they term as exploitative admission and levies charged by some day secondary schools, accusing school administrations of defying a public pledge by area MP Ndindi Nyoro to reduce fees to as low as Ksh.500 under the Kiharu Masomo Bora Programme.

The parents say instead of the promised relief, schools are demanding as much as Ksh 30,000 at the point of admission, locking out children from poor households and undermining the government’s policy on affordable basic education.

Accountability in the management of public day schools is being questioned by many people living in the constituencies due to this controversy.

This news comes on the heels of a statement made two weeks ago by Nyoro whom has been very supportive of making secondary school affordable to parents.

The reaction of many parents has been one of excitement as they continue to struggle with increasing living expenses and decreasing incomes.

Fees composition is creating confusion

Specifically, parents feel that the Ksh 30,000 demand is actually a sum of various compulsory fees related to admission.

Parents describe food contributions, uniforms, textbooks, exam materials and other fees that add substantially to the overall expense of admission and thus too high for most families.

They argue that according to policy, day secondary schools are not supposed to charge boarding-related costs like food but many schools report charging over Ksh. 10,000 for food alone.

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They also claim that parent’s costs for uniforms are very high and they are required to purchase complete sets costing upwards of Ksh 12, 000.

Students are also upset about having to buy additional learning materials (several reams of printing paper), as well as the parents are upset about why these operational costs are applied to the family directly.

CDF Relationship to Government

The issue has also caused the debate to resurface on the role of the National Government Constituencies Development Fund (NG-CDF) in creating and supporting education.

Citizens believe that there are adequate public funds for creating infrastructure and learning resources; there should be limited costs passed to parents.

Some parents think that public primary schools already enjoy the advantage of government funding (example, they receive monthly payments from the government called capitation, classes funded by the NG-CDF, furniture provision, science labs funded by the NG-CDF, and educational-based scholarships).

So their demands for higher entrance fees are unreasonable, however, parents in Murang’a have suggested that a large portion of constituencies’ development funds should be allocated to education, so that parents will not have an unaffordable amount of money to pay for school fees from elementary to high school.

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Public Pressure Mounts

The Murang’a parents are advocating for the ministry of education to support their educational efforts and work with them to prevent further charges for school fees to maintain the educational progress of children in the area.

If the high cost of attendance continues to increase, low-income families with children who are able to attend school will be forced to drop out or seek full-time work to help provide food for family members through child labor or delinquency.

At the center of the storm, parents are demanding clarity from both school administrations and political leadership, insisting that education should remain a constitutional right rather than a privilege reserved for the wealthy.

One parent, while expressing frustration during a public forum in Kiharu, said:

“In the past, we were told that there are day school parents who pay Ksh.500. But here at the day school, we are told that if you enroll in our school, the minimum wage is Ksh 30,000. The cost of food is Ksh 10,500. The uniform is Ksh 12,000, yet we know the government has a responsibility to ensure these infrastructures. We are calling on the government to listen to the plight of these kids so that education is not reduced to a favour or a right only for the rich.”

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Parents Of Kiharu Constituency Addressing Members of the Fourth Estate. PHOTO/ File