NAIROBI, Kenya – Parliament is probing how some of Kenya’s leading national schools have been collecting millions of shillings in additional charges from parents without the required approval from the Ministry of Education.
The scrutiny has put schools including Mang’u High School, Alliance High School, Limuru Girls High School and Kiambu High School under the spotlight over levies collected through parents’ associations and other programmes.
The Auditor-General has flagged several of the charges as unauthorised, while school administrators have defended them as necessary to maintain food standards, infrastructure, security, laboratories and other services amid inadequate government funding.
The issue is now before a National Assembly committee examining Auditor-General reports covering national schools for the 2020/21 to 2024/25 financial years.
Mang’u Parents Paid Sh46,082 Per Student
At Mang’u High School, parents were charged Sh46,082 per student in the 2024/25 financial year through a Parents Association Support Programme.
The Auditor-General found no evidence that the Ministry of Education had authorised the levy through the County Education Board.
The school defended the contribution, saying the money helped maintain an enriched diet while also supporting security, technical workshops, laboratories and co-curricular activities.
Mang’u’s principal said the school’s budget, including the additional contribution, had been presented to parents and the Board of Management.
The Auditor-General, however, maintained that approval by parents and the Board of Management did not amount to the statutory approval required from the Ministry of Education.
The levy has also increased substantially over the years. Mang’u charged Sh18,452 per student in 2021, rising to Sh27,006 for Form Ones and Sh27,054 for Forms Two to Four in 2022, before reaching Sh33,452 in 2023 and Sh46,082 in 2024/25.
The school’s annual financial report also records parent-funded development projects, including a dormitory block and classrooms.
Alliance High Collected Sh42.25 Million
Alliance High School has also come under scrutiny over additional contributions.
The school charged Sh68,554 per student against an approved fee of Sh53,554 in 2020/21, creating a variance of Sh15,000 per student.
In 2021/22, the same Sh68,554 was charged against an approved fee of Sh45,000, resulting in a Sh23,554 difference.
The Auditor-General also flagged Sh42.25 million collected through the school’s Parents Association support programme in 2024/25 without the required Ministry approval.
School administrators have attributed the additional contributions to rising operational costs and parents’ desire to maintain the standards associated with the institution.
The audit findings, however, raise questions about whether such parental support can lawfully be collected where the Ministry has not approved the additional charges.
Limuru Girls Charged Sh73,580
At Limuru Girls High School, parents were charged Sh73,580 per student, compared with an approved fee of Sh53,580.
The difference amounted to Sh20,000 per student.
The school’s chief principal said parents had approved the additional contribution during an Annual General Meeting and that it had subsequently been endorsed by the Board of Management.
She nevertheless acknowledged that the school had not obtained written authorisation from the Cabinet Secretary before introducing the additional levy.
The school’s explanation was that additional funds were needed to cope with rising costs, including food, electricity and water.
Kiambu High Cites Rising Enrolment
Kiambu High School also recorded unexplained fee differences ranging from Sh717 to Sh7,946 per student.
The school attributed the additional money to development projects, including the construction of two classrooms and a 120-capacity dormitory.
Administrators linked the infrastructure pressure to increased enrolment following the government’s 100 per cent transition policy, which expanded the number of students entering secondary schools.
The case illustrates the broader financial pressures facing some large public schools as they accommodate growing student populations.
MPs Question Extra Charges for Food
The issue of additional payments for food has generated particular concern among MPs.
Narok Woman Representative Rebecca Tonkei questioned why parents should be required to pay separately for enhanced meals when food is part of the normal school programme.
“We support efforts to improve the nutrition of our children, but we cannot have a situation where students in one school are asked to pay extra for food that other learners receive as part of the normal school programme,” Tonkei said.
She said decisions to introduce additional items such as eggs, bread, sausages, chapati and mandazi should be handled through the Ministry rather than individual schools determining how much parents should pay.
The debate highlights a difficult question for national schools: whether parents can voluntarily support higher standards without those contributions effectively becoming compulsory school fees.
Ministry Has Previously Ordered Schools to Stop Unauthorised Levies
The dispute is not new.
In February 2023, then Education Cabinet Secretary Ezekiel Machogu directed education officials to stop public schools from imposing unauthorised levies.
At the time, national schools were operating under a Sh53,554 fee ceiling, and the Ministry cited complaints involving additional charges for admission, desks and lunch.
Officials were instructed to investigate schools imposing payments outside the approved fee structure.
Government guidelines provide for parents to meet specified expenses, including school uniforms, boarding-related costs reflected in the approved boarding fee structure and lunch for day scholars.
The Auditor-General has consequently questioned the legal basis of additional contributions collected through parents’ associations where the necessary Ministry approval has not been obtained.
Schools Say Government Funding Is Not Enough
School administrators have argued that the additional contributions are driven by a gap between government funding and the actual cost of running large national schools.
The pressure includes expenditure on food, electricity, water, security, learning materials, laboratories, workshops, infrastructure and co-curricular activities.
The Kenya Secondary School Heads Association has also continued to raise concerns over inadequate capitation, saying schools have been receiving substantially less than the amount required to meet their operational needs.
This has created a difficult situation for school heads: they are expected to maintain the standards associated with national schools while operating within government-approved funding and fee structures.
Parliament Seeks Answers From School Heads
The parliamentary scrutiny is therefore examining both sides of the problem — whether schools have breached government rules by collecting unauthorised charges and whether existing public funding is sufficient to meet the costs of running large national institutions.
The Auditor-General’s reports provide evidence of additional collections and gaps in approval, while school administrators have pointed to operational pressures and requests from parents for higher standards.
The central question now facing the Ministry and Parliament is how schools can meet legitimate costs without transferring unapproved financial obligations to parents.
