Parents decry high costs of school items as Form One students report.

Parents enrolling children in Form One have decried tough demands and hiked prices of school items as learners report for the first term of Secondary education. They now fear that the cost of education could make some parents unable to educate their children if the Ministry of Education does not intervene.

Monday, February 6, 2023, being the official admission day, parents and learners trooped to their selected schools across the country. Besides being asked to clear first-term fees, parents were also met with exaggerated prices of school items and some had to leave their sons and daughters queuing in school to rush to their nearest towns to shop for items required for admission.

In Embu, parents enrolling their children to day schools decried high fee levies as well as numerous items listed for admission whereas at All Saint Kigari day school in Manyatta, parents trooped to school as early as 6 am in order to beat the queue and tiresome process.

Accompanied by her son, Libareta Mutitu says that high cost of education may lead to parents not being able to educate their children.Mutitu says that the school administration has asked parents to clear fees before admission. She says the school fees was at Ksh.12,500 before but has now risen to Ksh.16,000.

“The cost of living has gone up. I feel for farmers who are also parents considering they did not harvest enough crops due to failed rains,” Mutitu says.

Mercy wawira, a parent enrolling her daughter at the same school say that she is now at crossroads due to her other obligations. She has a child in college and two others in school, and the burden is now becoming unbearable.

After all,the Government of Kenya is pushing for 100 % transition of all learners who sat for their KCPE exams having placed all the 1.2 million into respective secondary schools regardless of the marks they scored.

Article By Suzy Nyongesa.