Education Funding Crisis
Kenya's School Principals Propose Higher Public School Fees Amid Severe Funding Shortfalls
Key Points
Capitation per learner is reportedly last reviewed in 2018, suggesting the rate has not kept pace with current economic realities.
Operational funding per learner averaged 10,636.92 between 2020 and 2025, almost the same as the 2008 allocation of 10,625, indicating stagnation in real funding amid rising costs.
Willy Kuria, KESSHA chair, argued that the current fee guidelines were set by a 2015 circular and can no longer reflect the cost of running schools.
Kuria also cited depreciation of the Kenyan shilling as part of the cost pressures pushing schools toward higher fees or greater government funding.
Kenya's public school principals are pushing for the biggest fee increase in over a decade. They want annual fees at national schools to rise from Sh53,554 to Sh87,781 — a jump of more than 60% — according to Tuko. The proposal was presented at the 49th KESSHA Annual Conference in Mombasa on June 23, 2026, and would affect millions of families across the country.
The principals say they have no choice. The government promised each student Sh22,244 per year in capitation — the per-learner funding grant — but only paid Sh15,385 in 2024/2025, a 30% shortfall, according to Bizna Kenya. That gap has left schools unable to pay salaries, feed students, or buy basic supplies. The total funding deficit this year alone is estimated at Sh22.5 billion.
A 2015 Fee Cap That No Longer Adds Up
The current fee structure comes from a government circular issued in February 2015. KESSHA chair Willy Kuria says that circular is now mathematically broken. "The current fees were set in 2015," he said. "It is no longer possible to sustainably run our institutions under the existing framework," according to Bizna Kenya.
The numbers back him up. The government's operational funding per learner averaged Sh10,637 between 2020 and 2025 — almost identical to the Sh10,625 allocated back in 2008, according to Education Star News. In real terms, schools are getting no more money than they were 17 years ago. Meanwhile, the Kenyan shilling has lost over 40% of its value against the dollar since 2015, pushing up the cost of everything from food to photocopy paper, which has nearly doubled from Sh420 to Sh800 per ream, according to Money254.
What Principals Are Actually Asking the Government to Pay
KESSHA's proposal lays out the true cost of educating a student. At a national boarding school, that cost is now Sh110,025 per year. Principals want parents to cover Sh87,781 of that, with the government paying the rest. For extra-county schools, the proposed parent fee is Sh83,622, up from Sh40,535 today. Day school parents would pay Sh7,675 — schools that are currently free — according to Education News Kenya.
Principals say the new curriculum is a key driver of rising costs. Competency-Based Education — Kenya's new school program — requires labs for aviation, mechatronics, and music. The 2015 fee model never accounted for any of that. KESSHA is giving the government a choice: raise parent fees, or give schools significantly more funding. PS John Ololtuaa told the conference the government would "review the financing challenges," according to Education News Kenya.
Schools Running on Empty, Students Going Hungry
The funding gap is hitting students directly. Some principals are planning early mid-term breaks just to avoid the cost of feeding students for extra days. PS Ololtuaa told the Mombasa conference that there have been 330 school disruptions and 95 fire incidents since late April 2026. Analysts link much of this unrest to poor living conditions caused by chronic underfunding, according to Education News Kenya.
The Ministry of Education is also dealing with a much bigger budget problem. It faces a total deficit of Sh100 billion ahead of Kenya's national budget. That broader crisis makes it unlikely the government will simply increase capitation payments without also raising fees, according to Money254.
Parents Fear a Fee Hike They Cannot Afford
Not everyone is on board. Silas Obuhatsa, chair of the National Parents Association, called the proposal a "huge burden" on families already struggling with the high cost of living, according to Tuko. His concern is real: this debate is happening just two years after Kenya's Gen-Z protests, which were driven in large part by economic frustration. Any fee increase could trigger fresh unrest.
The Ministry is expected to give a formal response after the KESSHA conference ends on June 30, 2026. If the proposal is approved, it would be the first major fee change for public schools in over a decade. If it is rejected without a matching increase in government funding, principals warn that Kenya's public school system will continue to slide deeper into debt, according to Education Star News.
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