Relief to Parents After Govt’s Latest Directive Ahead of School Reopening

Treasury Cabinet Secretary John Mbadi has revealed that the National Treasury will release funds meant for school capitation to the Ministry of Education tomorrow, Tuesday, August 26, averting possible learning disruptions.
Mbadi said that the Treasury will release a total of Ksh23 billion to all schools and additional funds to the Higher Education Loans Board (HELB) following a directive from President William Ruto.
The government money man stated that the government will also ramp up efforts to mobilise resources and increase capitation for education, a problem he claims has haunted the country’s education sector for seven years now.
The CS revealed this during the official launch of the  FY 2026/27 and Medium-Term Budget Preparation Process at the Kenyatta International Convention Centre (KICC) on Monday, August 25.
“We have not been giving money for capitation, and we have not been doing this for seven years, and I have no apologies to make. We have sat with the PSs for education and also the CS to look at that gap under the instruction of the president, and we have seen the gap,” Mbadi said.
“We want to get more resources for capitation so that our children can go to school, and we want to give more money to the Higher Education Loans Board (HELB), and by the way, tomorrow we are releasing Ksh17 billion, Ksh5.9 billion for examination and we should also give more money to HELB,” he added.
For years, school capitation has been a persistent issue for school heads in the country. The government’s scheme pays Ksh22,144 per secondary school student each year, divided into three tranches: Ksh11,122 in the first term, Ksh6,673 in the second term, and Ksh4,439 in the third term.
However, in a statement on Tuesday, July 15, the Kenya Secondary School Heads Association (KESSHA) stated that the recurrent delay of the government to release the funds had resulted in school headsstruggling to sustain operations in the institutions.
According to KESSHA, the government still owes schools Ksh7.6 billion and Ksh10.6 billion for the first and second terms, respectively.
“A majority of the heads are playing hide and seek with the suppliers because there are no adequate funds to pay the suppliers. Qualified Board of Management teachers are laid off, compromising the quality of education,” KESSHA stated.
HELB Disbursement
The announcement by Mbadi comes days after the Higher Education Loans Board (HELB)disbursed Ksh9.6 billion to over 300,000 loan applicantsin tertiary institutions.
According to the board, the Ksh9.46 billion has been divided to cover Ksh5.76 billion of tuition fees and Ksh3.7 billion of student living costs, and a total of 309,178 students have received loans.
In a statement on Tuesday, August 19, the board encouraged students to ensure that they check their portals to confirm that they have received the funds.
“Students are advised to check their HELB portals to confirm receipt of the funds and to access detailed information regarding their individual HELB loan accounts,” the board stated.