Parents are this weekend grappling with the shock of exorbitant levies as learners report for term one of the 2020 school calendar.
Despite the government capping fees charged by public schools, thousands of parents were yesterday struggling to come to terms with a host of charges introduced by school administrators, running into thousands of shillings.
Parents’ Association chairman Nicholas Maiyo told the Sunday Nation he had discovered several levies that had been imposed by some schools and which they had to meet before their children are admitted for the first term.
A survey by the Sunday Nation established that hundreds of schools have introduced fees for admission, school uniform, development, transport and for reference materials such as the bible, atlas, dictionary and hymn books.
This is besides the normal school fees.
A fee structure of one of the primary schools in Nairobi seen by the Sunday Nation required parents of Grade One pupils to pay a Sh1,000 annual PTA charge, Sh1,000 annual diaries charge, primary insurance fees at Sh1,700, caution money (Sh3,000), maintenance fee (Sh1,000), activity fee (Sh1,500) and a further Sh2,500 for snacks.
The school has also asked learners to buy textbooks, workbooks, and children’s storybooks.
Other items to be bought include acrylic paint, painting brushes, spring files, two reams of photocopying paper and foolscaps.
Mr Maiyo said he had received complaints from thousands of parents, one being that a primary school headteacher had demanded Sh20,000 to admit a pupil.
“Some headteachers have taken advantage of school uniform and school infrastructure to ask parents to pay extra fees,” he said.
Others are asking for transfer fee while others want learners graduating from pre-primary to Grade One to pay caution fees of up to Sh2,000 despite having paid the same when they joined their schools last year.
Parents who spoke to the Sunday Nation revealed schools were demanding extra charges to be paid into a different account other than the one for school fees.
The Ministry of Education allows school heads to open bank accounts for school fees and government funding. The accounts are audited by the field education officers to ensure credibility and accountability.
However, with the separate accounts, field officers would be unable to inspect and audit them as they are only known to school administrators and their respective boards of management.
In some secondary schools, parents reported that heads had asked for between Sh5,000 to Sh7,000 for school uniform, way above the amounts charged by established uniform dealers.
Mr Maiyo termed the move a strategy by schools to milk parents financially.
He, however, maintained that parents will not pay any extra fees besides what the Ministry of Education has provided for.
