Headteachers of public primary schools in Nairobi City County are under the spotlight over an alleged plan to charge extra levies on Junior Secondary Students. According to Education Cabinet Secretary Ezekiel Machogu JSS education is free in all approved public schools and no head teacher or Board of Management (BoM) should come up with unauthorized levies.
According to the guidelines issued by the ministry of education, the government is giving capitation for this particular level of education and teachers should not charge any extra levy. Junior Secondary as per Article 53 of the Constitution is free and compulsory and the government expects a 100 per cent transition and that there is no money required or any registration fee.
The ministry has also warned head teachers against attempts to misappropriate the 25 per cent of the capitation given to each JSS learner to be used for infrastructure development.During day one of the inaugural JSS, it was reported that several city schools were asking parents to make some payments and this has sparked a debate making the ministry give a stern warning to head teachers.
Already some schools have requested extra levies from parents. The schools on the ministry’s radar are Bidii Primary, Harambee Primary, Nairobi River Primary, Nairobi Primary, Lang’ata Road Primary, Uhuru Gardens Primary and Moi Avenue Primary.Others are St. Peter Clevers Primary, Lavington Primary, Kilimani Primary, Westlands Primary, St. George’s Primary, Loresho Primary, Muthangari Primary and Milimani Primary.
