Ruto warns education officials, principals extorting money from parents

Ruto, who was speaking during a thanksgiving service in Busia County on Sunday, said that he is privy to the unethical tendencies some officials have adopted of asking parents to pay school fees yet it has been catered for.

He said that the government has issued Ksh.60 billion in capitation to all learning institutions countrywide including Ksh.10 billion in bursaries to allow students to access education across the nation. 

"Hear this from me because these people will stop this ill behaviour because the government has disbursed the money...I want to tell those managers in the education sector not to take advantage of parents on false accounts of the government having released no money," said Ruto.

"We have released Ksh.62 billion to our primary and secondary schools, Universities, TVET institutions, including Ksh.10 billion in bursaries to our MPs so that even children from vulnerable families can go to school."

While affirming that the government is committed to bolster access to education across the nation, Ruto said that his administration has increased the number of teachers to work in various institutions and even more will be added.

"We have employed new 56,000 teachers to teach our children. This week 2,000 teachers will be employed into TVETs because we know the importance of education and we want every child to be educated to create equality," he noted.

According to the Ministry of Education, primary education in Kenya is free and it is catered for by the government.

In boarding schools, however, the government provides a subsidy to each learner. Parents pay the boarding fees applicable to different locations of schools and their categories.

The National Treasury disbursed Ksh.4.74 billion on January 3 to the State Department for Basic Education towards the facilitation of free primary education for Term 1.

Additionally, the State Department was given Ksh.7.6 billion as capitation for Junior Secondary Schools (JSS).

The Treasury also disbursed Ksh.2.8 billion to cater for school examination and invigilation costs, while Ksh.16.2 billion will go towards financing free-day secondary schools in the first term.

Likewise on January 17, Ksh.192 billion was disbursed to Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) institutions.

The cash injection, Education Principal Secretary (PS) Dr Esther Thaara Muoria said, will be directed towards providing crucial support for tuition, training materials, utilities and co-curricular activities across the institutions.