Principals Protest Funding Shortages As Schools Struggle To Sustain Learning

Barely days into the third term, secondary school administrators are already sounding the alarm over unpaid government capitation, a gap they say could throw learning programmes into disarray.

Willie Kuria, who chairs the Kenya Secondary Schools Heads Association (KESSHA), told reporters on Tuesday that schools are yet to receive their full allocation for the year, a shortfall that’s making it hard for institutions to keep their programmes running smoothly.

Under the current funding formula, the government owes each learner Ksh22,244 annually. So far, though, only Ksh16,141 has been released per student,a deficit of Ksh6,103, according to Kuria.

But there’s a catch that makes the numbers look even worse, he said. Not every shilling counted as “released” by the Ministry of Education actually lands in a school’s bank account. Of the amount disbursed, Ksh2,000 per learner is held back by the Ministry itself to cover textbooks and curriculum-related activities. That means schools are really only seeing Ksh14,050 per learner in their accounts.

“This year we have not yet received the full capitation, just like last year and other years. You are aware that we are supposed to receive a capitation of Ksh22,244 per year per student,” Kuria said.

“So far this year, what has landed in school accounts is Ksh14,050. We may say that the capitation released so far is Ksh16,141 per student, but it is not all that amount that is in school accounts,” he added.

Kuria didn’t stop there. He pointed out that last year’s shortfall was never made up for, meaning schools are effectively carrying forward a funding hole into the new academic year.

In 2025, he said, the Ministry released Ksh15,383 per learner but withheld Ksh811, leaving schools with just Ksh14,572 in real terms. That translated into a deficit of Ksh6,560 per learner, a gap Kuria estimates cost the country’s schools upwards of Ksh22 billion collectively.

“There is no compensation that we were able to get about last year,” he said, adding that schools are now starting a fresh term without ever having closed that gap.

The complaints come barely a week after the Ministry announced it had released funds for the new term. Education Cabinet Secretary Julius Ogamba said on August 24 that Ksh18.5 billion had gone out to public basic education institutions countrywide as schools reopened.

“Term 3 of 2026 has begun today, with basic education institutions, including pre-primary, primary, junior and senior schools, opening across the country,” Ogamba said at the time, adding that the government had released Ksh18,508,271,486.60 in capitation for the term.

He urged school heads to spend the money responsibly and cautioned against slapping parents, many already stretched thin financially, with unauthorised levies.

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