Education Ministry denies boarding fee hike in senior public schools

Education Cabinet Secretary (CS) Julius Ogamba said that the reports are false and parents should not pay for any increments.

"Parents, learners and the general public are hereby notified that there has been no revision of boarding fees, or any other fees, payable by learners," he said.

He maintained that the amounts payable as boarding fees will remain as usual, Ksh.22,244 annually per learner, and any additional payments will be covered by the government.

"The Government will continue to fulfil its constitutional duty of providing capitation for learners in senior school," he added.

Reports had indicated that the new fee would increase to Ksh.53,554 for senior secondary students from January 2026, an increase for some schools.

The reports have also indicated that some schools in Nairobi, Mombasa, and Kisumu have already implemented the revised fees due to rising financial challenges.

The guidelines had scrapped categorization of secondary schools based on infrastructure and location, seeing all public boarding schools having a standard fee payment.

This came ahead of the transition from junior school to senior school curriculum after the completion of the Kenya Junior School Education Assessment (KJSEA) exams under the Competency Based Curriculum (CBC).