This unequal society should not deny poor families their thread of hope – the education of their children. Such families don't need further layers of exploitation.
The Ministry of Education should not undermine universal access to education. President Uhuru Kenyatta and the late Education Cabinet Secretary Prof George Magoha championed 100 per cent school enrolment with unparalleled passion.
Magoha visited schools and families to ascertain school-age children were enrolled. It was a ministerial duty to confirm whether those admitted to Form 1 reported.
Such zeal is lacking among field officers. Official school inspections are stuck, as vested interests dominate. There are cases of children in public primary schools being sent home because they have not paid school fees or have defaulted on superfluous levies.
Managers of public schools call the payments levies, rather than fees. The big spoon – a dangerous spade – is destroying universal access to education.
Education in public schools is supposed to be free, but this is not the practice. The transition from the 8:4:4 system of education to the competency-based curriculum adds another layer to the confusion. The dearth of standards should worry.
It does not matter whether parents and teachers agreed on certain levies for junior secondary schools. The so-called community participation has created an expensive system. Junior secondary schools charge what they like.
Disparate charges in 18 schools sampled in Rachuonyo North subcounty show anarchy that undermines universal access to education. In one public junior secondary school, pupils pay Sh29,230 for uniforms, lunch and other dubious levies.
Two shirts, two long trousers, pullover, necktie, badge, one pair of shoes, and three pairs of socks are common requirements. The schools sell uniforms at their own prices. Parents are required to buy from schools.
Then there are other school requirements – PTA levy, assessment book, KPSEA assessment and Nemis registration. There is another 'assessment' done 11 times a year. Pupils pay Sh100 for each dose.
In Rachuonyo North, headteachers have another headache: a senior education officer who demands Sh30 on every child enrolled before forms for opening bank accounts for junior secondary schools are signed.
Stakeholders of Ogenya Girls Secondary School, Ojijo Oteko Secondary School and some schools in Nyakongo zone in the subcounty have complained about the officer's personal demands.
The Sh30 is drawn from the capitation account. Capitation is supposed to be spent within the schools. The officer, who has stayed at the station for a decade now, calls the Sh30 activity fees. He is a signatory to the activity account.
Some day junior secondary schools demand Sh4,000 for lunch per term. In other schools, pupils pay Sh3,300 for lunch. The pupils have been in the same school from pre-primary one. Their homes are a 15-minute walk from the school.
Other children from the same family in other classes return home for lunch. But their special sibling in junior secondary school pays Sh4,000 for lunch in the same school. JSS pupils are sent home for fees when they default on lunch levy.
Junior secondary school, which is supposed to be free, is more expensive than day secondary schools. It's a case of clashing systems in a county that promotes universal access to education.
The disparities echo the inequality challenges of the Moi era. The 11 national schools then, especially around Nairobi, charged what they wanted. Pupils from rich or political families grabbed spaces left by bright children from poor families who couldn't fit in.