2025 SCHOOL FEES GUIDELINES ON IMPLEMENTATION OF FREE DAY SECONDARY EDUCATION FOR THE YEAR

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION

Office of the Principal Secretary, State Department for Basic Education

Telegrams: “EDUCATION”, Nairobi Telephone: Nairobi 3318581

Fax No.: 254-2-214287

E-mail: ps@education.go.ke

When replying please quote

PRINCIPAL SECRETARY JOGOO HOUSE “B” HARAMBEE AVENUE

1. P. BOX 30040

NAIROBI

County Directors of Education

RE: GUIDELINES ON IMPLEMENTATION OF FREE DAY SECONDARY EDUCATION FOR THE YEAR 2025

INTRODUCTION

Purpose

This circular is issued in accordance with article 48 of the Public Finance Management (PFM) Act, 2012, and article 39 of the Basic Education Act 2013, to provide guidelines for the utilization of the Government Subsidy to Secondary schools in the implementation of Free Day Secondary Education (FDSE) programme for the Year 2025.

The academic calendar will have 39. The purpose of the circular is to provide: –

• Specific Guidelines for secondary schools on: –
  • Funding for secondary education under the FDSE programme
  • Bank accounts to be held by schools and how they are to be operated
  • Fees Structures
  • Parental obligations in secondary schools
  • Financial obligation of secondary schools
  • Ineligible expenditures in secondary schools
  • Employment by Board of Management of secondary schools

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Continue reading;

Government increases secondary school fees for 2025

Those whose children attend boarding schools and extra county schools located elsewhere will pay Ksh 40,535 per year, up from the current Ksh 35,000. However, the government will subsidizes Ksh 22, 244 per student in both boarding and day schools…….

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• Information on:
  • Transfers and re-entry
  • Procurement and Delivery of SET books to secondary schools
  • The annual procurement plan for secondary schools

2.0   Background

In 2025, the Government of Kenya (GOK) will continue to ensure attainment of Universal Secondary Education (USE) as provided for in the Medium-Term Plan Ill  of Vision 2030, the Constitution of Kenya, 2010, the Post COVID 19 Economic Recovery Strategy and Sessional paper No 1 of 2019, a policy framework for Education Training and Research.

Secondary schools are required to: (i) meet schooling needs of all learners; (ii) ensure high quality and relevant content delivery; (iii) raise standards of secondary education; (iv) ensure gender parity in enrolment; and (v) unlock technology for effective service delivery.

3.0 SPECIFIC GUIDELINES

FDSE Capitation to Schools

GOK subsidy (Capitation) to schools to actualize Free Day Secondary Education (FDSE) will be KES.22,244.00 annually per learner as stipulated in Table 1.

Table 1: FDSE Structure

Item	Description	Amount
(i)	Tuition (Teaching learning materials and exams)	4,144.00
(ii)	Medical/ Insuranee	2,000.00
(iii)	Activity	1,500.00
(iv)	SMASSE	200.00
(v)	*Other Vote heads – (Local Transport and Travel, Administrative Costs, Electricity, Water and Conservancv Personnel Emolument!	9,400.00
(vi)	Maintenance and Improvement	5,000.00
Grand Total		22,244.00

 

Provision of the GOK Subsidy (capitation grants) to schools on a termly basis as will be communicated. The following shall apply during disbursements:-

• The GOK subsidy will be provided to public schools under the following conditions: –
  • The school MUST be duly registered and headed by a Principal appointed by Teachers Service Commission (TS().
  • The school MUST be registered on the National Education Management Information System (NEMIS) platform
  • The school MUST register and update learners records on NEMIS
  • Bank accounts for Tuition, Operations and Infrastructure Grants as operated by the school MUST be registered in NEMIS and with MOE at all its levels.
  • Details of Bank accounts for Infrastructure be submitted to the Ministry before the end of the second quarter i .e March 15^th
• Enrolment data to be used for provision of the GOK Subsidy will be obtained from NEMIS on various dates as follows: –
  • First Tanche 15th December 2022
  • Second Tranche 3pt March 2023
  • Third Tranche 30th June 2023
• Under the Operations Account, schools may seek authority from the CEBs to vire savings or surplus funds from one item to another when it is absolutely necessary but the same does not apply for both Tuition and the Infrastructure Accounts.
• Personnel emolument will not be restricted to payment of Non­ teaching staff.

School Data on NEMIS

It is the responsibility of the Principal to ensure accuracy of the data available on NEMIS where every eligible learner is fully registered on the platform. The following shall apply: –

• NEMIS must be used at all times during admission and transfer of students;
• Transfers of students should be avoided in the course of the academic year and may only be sanctioned by the Director General under special circumstances;
• Funds will be disbursed using the data available on NEMIS at the time of disbursement as indicated in 1.2;
• Schools which receive GOK subsidy for students above the enrolment will be penalized and the Principal surcharged for loss of public resources as provided for in the PFM Act, 2012 Sections 197,198 and 202;
• Principals should ensure that schools records on NEMIS are accurate at all times by regularly updating these records;
• Changes in information on a school’s bank accounts WILL ONLY be done at MOE headquarters. Requests for change should be generated by the school and forwarded by the Sub County Director of Education to Director Secondary

Fees Structures

Given that the academic calendar will revert to 39 weeks from 30 weeks for the academic year commencing on January 2024, Parents will continue to pay approved fees. In this regard, the fees to be paid for the various category of schools is as indicated in parts 3.4.1, 3.4.2, 3.4.3 and 3.4.4 respectively.

Fees structure for Day Schools

GOK will continue to offer free day schooling and the fees structure for day schools in shown in Table 2.

vote head ‘Parent 0 GOK (KSH) 4,144.00 SMASSE 0 200.00 Maintenance and Improvement 0 5,000.00 Activity fee 0 1,500.00 Medical and Insurance 0 2,000.00 *Other vote heads – (Local Transport and travel, Administrative Costs, Electricity, Water and Conservancy, Personnel Emolument) 0 9,400.00 Total school fees 0 22,244.00

Table 2: Fees Structure for Day Schools

Fees structure for Boarding Schools Category A*

Schools classified as Category A* are all National Schools and Extra County Schools that are located in the following towns: Nairobi, Mombasa, Nakuru, Kisumu, Nyeri, Thika and Eldoret only. For these schools, GOK will provide a subsidy for each learner in that is equal to the subsidy for each learner in a day school. In order to meet the cost of boarding as well as maintenance and improvement, parents will pay the boarding fees as shown in Table 3.

Vete head                – GOK Parent Total Teaching, Learning materials and Exams 4,144 0 4,144.00 Boarding Equipment and Stores 0 30,385 30,385.00 Maintenance and Improvement 5,000 2,000 7,000.00 *Other vote heads- (Local Transport and Travel, Administrative Costs, Electricity, Water and Conservancy, Personnel Emolument) 9,400 20,371 29,771.00 Activity fees 1,500 798 2,298.00 Medical and Insurance 2,000 – 2,000.00 SMASSE 200 – 200.00 Total school fees 22,244 53,554 75,798.00

Table 3: Fees Structure for Cate_gory A* Boarding schools

Fees structure for Boarding Schools Category B*

For these schools, GOK will provide a subsidy for each learner in that is equal to the subsidy for each learner in a day school. In order to meet the cost of boarding as well as maintenance and improvement, parents will pay the boarding fees as shown in Table 4.

Vote Head                                                . GOK Parent Total (Ksh) Teaching, Learning Materials and Exams 4,144 0 4,144.00 SMASSE 200 200.00 Medical and Insurance 2,000 0 2,000.00 Activity fees 1,500 250 1,750.00 Boarding Equipment and Stores O 25,385 25,385.00 Maintenance and Improvement 5,000 2,000 7,000.00 *Other Vote heads- (Local Transport and travel, Administrative Costs, Electricity, Water and Conservancy, Personnel Emolument) 9,400 12,900 22,300.00 Total school fees 22,244 40,535 62,779.00

Table 4: Fees Structure for ca–tegory B* Boarding schools

Fees structure for Special Needs Boarding Schools

Schools classified as Special needs are those schools that cater for learners with impairment e.g. visual, physical, hearing and mental. For this schools GOK will provide an enhanced capitation to KES.57,974.00 per learner.

This includes a GOK subsidy of KES.23,220.00 per learner for Boarding Equipment and Stores and a top up grant of KES.12,510.00 per learner to cater for assistive devices and any additional personnel needed.

In order to meet the cost of boarding as well as maintenance and improvement, parents will pay the boarding fees as shown in Table 5.

Table 5: Fees Structure for Special Needs Boarding  schools

Vote Heads Teaching, Learning Materials and Exams	GOK	Parent	Total (Ksh)
	4,144	0	4,144.00
Boarding Equipment and Stores	23,220	10,790	34,010.00
Maintenance and Improvement	5,000	2000	7,000.00
*Other Vote heads (Local Transport and Travel, Administrative Costs, Electricity, Water and Conservancy, Personnel Emolument)	9,400	0	9,400.000
Activity fees	1,500	0	1,500.00
Medical and Insurance	2,000	0	2,000.00
**Top Up	12,510	0	12,510.00
SMASSE	200	0
Total school fees	57,974	12,790	70,764.00

 

Maintenance and Improvement Funds

MOE has provided for the use of KES.5,000.00 per student from the GOK subsidy as Maintenance and Improvement Fund per year to ensure a proper learning environment with adequate school infrastructure and other improvements.

Similarly, for boarding schools, an additional KES.2,000.00 per student is provided for as a parent’s contribution. This vote should only be used for immovable assets and other form of infrastructure in the school that may require upgrading.

Approval must be sought from the relevant office on utilization of this vote. Detailed guidelines will be issued on the approval of projects under this fund.

Bank Accounts

To ensure accountability and smooth implementation of the FDSE programme, all schools are required to operate the following bank accounts.

• Tuition Account: – For banking of tuition funds and all payments should strictly be made by cheques. Funds in the tuition account must be utilized for the procurement of teaching and learning material (TLMs) only.
• Operations Account: – This account is used for banking of all GoK subsidies except the tuition and infrastructure funds.
• School Infrastructure Account: – for banking infrastructure grants from GOK and Maintenance and Improvement (M&I)
• Boarding Account: – This account is for banking of funds paid by parents for boarding related expenses.
• A Saving Account: – This account is for banking funds from the Boarding Account Cash Book that cannot be put to immediate
• Schools with income generating activities shall open separate bank accounts for the same.
• Operational Procedures for School Bank Accounts

In addition to the above, the following procedures will continue to apply:

• Each account must have a separate cash
• All schools must acknowledge receipt of funds by a letter to the COE/uploading an official receipt on the NEMIS plat form.
• A receipt is issued to every learner for the amount received as GOK subsidy for every disbursement made.
• Schools must post on their notice boards the amounts
• No virement is authorized from the Tuition
• All CDF and donations or funds from Harambee must be receipted officially and entered into the school Cash books. These include incomes from hire of school facilities g., grounds, classrooms, halls or billboards on school compounds.
• School may open additional bank accounts as may be For example, school may need a bank account for CDF funds only.

Financial Obligations

All schools’ management are expected to ensure prudence in the use of school funds and to adhere to the laid down financial regulations as stipulated in the reviewed Handbook on Financial Management for Public Secondary Schools, Teacher Training Colleges and Technical and Vocational Colleges in Kenya issued by the MOE, the Public Finance Management Act, 2012 and the Public Procurement and Disposal Act, 2015.

All stipulated accounting procedures and other necessary measures, including cost-saving, must be adhered to by all schools at all times. In addition, the following will apply: –

• Schools MAY NOT enter into financial contracts e.g., Hire purchase, bank loans without the express written approval of the Cabinet Secretary in line with Section 18 of 4th Schedule of the Basic Education Act, 2013.
• Every Principal shall be responsible for application and utilization of funds as the Accounting Officer of the school. Guidelines of the same shall be given for each disbursement.

Ineligible Expenditures

As stipulated in the Public Finance Management (PFM) Act, 2012,

• Every public officer employed in a public entity shall comply with the Constitution and all laws relating to the conduct of public officers when carrying out a responsibility or exercising a power under this Act.
• Without prejudice to PFM Act provisions, a public officer shall ensure that the resources in his purview are used in a way, which is (a) lawful and authorized; and (b) Effective, efficient, economical and transparent.
• All procurement of goods and services is to be carried out in accordance with Article 227 of the Constitution and the relevant legislation on procurement and disposal of assets.
• An Accounting Officer may not authorize payment to be made out of funds earmarked for specific activities for other purposes other than those activities.

Ineligible expenditure will arise when such expenditures do not adhere to the law and are not aligned towards the goal of students learning, which are the school’s main activities.

Board of Management (BOM) Employees

MOE will continue to disburse funds to support the BOM employees. To minimize costs, it is necessary to rationalize the recruitment of such cadre of staff. It shall be the responsibility of the Boards of Management (BOMs) to hire Non-Teaching Staff at terms commensurate with qualification and capacity to pay. It is also important for schools to hire persons who are qualified for the job.

Transfers and Re-Entry

Cases of re-admission of dropouts and transfers should be dealt with on individual basis as stipulated in the student transfer guidelines. All transfers must be handled through NEMIS. The receiving school will initiate the process on NEMIS and the releasing school will complete the process as approved by the Various MOE personnel.

Set Books

The Ministry of Education will supply English Literature and Fasihi set books to Form three students in all the public secondary schools in 2023 as guided by the syllabus requirements. School principals are therefore advised not to procure the set books for forms three and four. The enrolment data obtained on NEMIS will be used for this purpose. Funds to actualize the procurement and delivery of the Set books shall be retained from the GOK Subsidy to schools.

Annual procurement plan

As provided for in article 26 the Public Procurement and Disposal act 2015, all procurement shall be within the approved budget of the procuring entity (school) and shall be planned by the procuring entity concerned through an annual procurement plan. Consequently, all schools MUST prepare an annual procurement plan (Annex 1) and execute it after approval by the Board of Management.

Parental Obligations

Parents will continue to meet the following cost:

• School Boarding related costs as reflected in the boarding school fees structure.

3.1.3.3      Lunch for the day scholars; and

3.13.4       (lear their fees balances for continuing students·prior to January 2023.

 

All County Directors of Education are required to ensure .strict adherence to the· guidelines on implementation of the FDSE programme and.bring this information to the attention of all field officers and secondary schools principals under their purview.

Copy to:         Cabinet Secretary

Chief Executive Officer, Teachers Service Commission Director Schools Audit Services

Director, Quality Assurance and Standards All Regional Directors of Education

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