The Ministry of Education has established a direct channel parents and guardians can use to report school heads charging illegal extra Levies.
Parents have always raised concerns on extra Levies charged by school heads that are above the amounts allowed by the ministry ahead of school reopening tomorrow.
The circular issued and signed by Paul Kibet on behalf of the Principal Secretary for the Ministry of Education revealed that the Ministry of Education has received a lot of complaints from parents, sponsors and the general public regarding schools that are charging illegal levies even after issuance of clear guidelines on fees payment for each school category in the country.
Now parents and directors can report any incidences of charging extra levies by school heads through the email directorsecondary2018@gmail.com for compiling and further processing.
The circular further directed that any public school which wished to increase fees should make a formal written request to the Cabinet Secretary for Education.
In addition, the circular stated clearly that any extra fees paid earlier must be refunded or be treated as pre-payment of fees for continuing learners.
The Ministry of Education allows no school to charge extra levies unless with written authorization from the Cabinet Secretary.
Charging extra fees contravenes Sections 44, 45 and 46 of the Basic Education Regulations of 2015. Part of the circular stated lunch should be optional and if otherwise, reasonable considerations must be taken into account for this current academic year whose terms have been reduced.
2020, 2021 and 2022 academic calendars has reduced terms to cover time lost during the prolonged closure of all learning institutions back in March 2020 following the reporting of the first case of COVID-19 in the country.
Schools remained closed for about seven months in an effort to curb spread of Covid-19 pandemic.
