President William Ruto has directed that Treasury set aside Sh15,000 per learner, as capitation to facilitate free learning in all public schools in Kenya.

This was announced by Education CS Ezekiel Machogu on Monday while speaking at the Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development (KICD) headquarters in Nairobi.

CS Machogu revealed that the government will also spend a total of Sh9.6 billion on learners joining Junior Secondary Schools this year.

“President William Ruto has directed that the Treasury sets aside Ksh.15,000 per learner as capitation to facilitate free learning in all public schools. In total, the government will spend a total of Sh9.6 billion for the learners in junior secondary this calendar year,” said the CS.

“This is almost equal to senior secondary students, who will continue getting the amount they are getting of Sh22, 244,” he added.

According to Machogu, students transitioning to Junior Secondary school will not pay any school fees unless they are in boarding schools.

The Education CS also noted the government has restricted Junior Secondary School from charging admission fees for Grade 7 learners because of the 100 per cent policy in the same institution the learners were enrolled in Grade 6.

“No school should charge any fees for Grade 7 learners unless such schools have boarding wings,” he said.

“This is the constitutional requirement that basic education, from primary to secondary, be compulsory and free.”

About 1,287,597 Grade 6 pupils who sat for their Kenya Primary School Education Assessment (KPSEA) exams in November are expected to join Junior Secondary Schools this year.