The Ministry of Education has called for an audit in the 28,000 public schools on their expenditure of the school fees paid by parents and the yearly subsidy from the government.
Parents spend approximately Sh100 billion every year on school fees. The government spends Sh13 billion to finance free primary education and approximately Sh60 billion on Free Day Secondary Education programme annually.
The Principal Secretary in the Ministry of Education Belio Kipsang on Wednesday ordered auditors to account for the money paid to the schools.
“School fees paid by parents are part of public resources. As schools auditors, you must examine whether the fees paid by parents was spent according to the regulations,” directed the PS.
The government raised the capitation per student in secondary schools to Sh22,244, an amount that caters for full school fee in public day secondary schools.
Kipsang further indicated that the parents and the government cumulatively spend between Sh40,000 and Sh53,000 in boarding schools bringing the total amount annually to Sh160 billion.
Kipsang who was speaking during a meeting with 40 school auditors from different parts of the country, stated that it was the duty of the auditors to verify the accounts against the work done on the ground.
“This is what you should do instead of letting school heads carry the books to your respective county offices,” Kipsang stated.
This comes shortly after The Kenya Secondary Schools Heads Association (Kessha) requested for disbursement of the funds allocated for free education.