Subsidy for Private Schools is Complex

Nairobi Star (Nairobi)

7 June 2011

editorial

The new constitution will change Kenya in many unanticipated ways. A parent has just gone to the High Court to compel the Ministry of Education to pay an equivalent subsidy for students in private schools as received by public schools. This would amount to around Sh10,000 annually in tuition subsidy per pupil plus the standard provision of various learning materials. Gabriel Nyabola’s 15 year old daughter is a student at Eastmore Girls School in Nakuru.

It would be easy to dismiss this case as a joke. In 2008 government decided that there should be free secondary education. We can argue that free public secondary education is indeed available in national and local authority schools to those students who have the necessary points.

We can also argue that private schools exist in parallel to the state system for those who want it, but they should not be subsidised because their students had lower grades, or because their parents preferred private to public education.

Nevertheless the new constitution says that all Kenyans should be treated equally. Are children in private schools being deprived of state support that they are legally entitled to? It is a moot point and it will be interesting to hear the court ruling.

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