State releases Sh23bn capitation funds to secondary schools

The government has adopted a policy that will ensure school capitation funds are released before the start of each term, President William Ruto has said.

He said this even as he confirmed the capitation of Sh4,766 for the second term has already been released to secondary schools.

Ruto said the move is aimed at ensuring smooth operation of academic activities.

The President said his administration has since disbursed Sh23 billion to cover free primary and secondary education.

“Tulikubaliana yakwamba watoto wetu wasome, na mimi nikiwa hapa Murang’a leo, vile nilitangaza last week, mbeleni walimu wakuu walikuwa wanangojea pesa ya capitation baada ya watoto kufika shuleni. But nimebadilisha from this year; kabla ya watoto kufika shuleni, tunatoa pesa ya capitation watoto wakutane nayo shuleni,” Ruto said.

The capitation is to facilitate Free Day Secondary Education (FDSE) to all schools.

“The Ministry of Education has released FDSE funds for Second term of 2026 which is the third Quarter of Financial Year of 2025-26. The allocation per student is Sh4,766.49 (Kenya Shillings four Thousand Seven Hundred Sixty Six and Forty-Nine Cents only,” Basic Education PS Julius Bitok said.

In a memo to all county directors of education, Bitok said the ministry has remitted Sh60.00 to CEMESTEA for Capacity Building (SMASSE) under the tuition account.

Another Sh225.00 per learner has been retained from the operations account for centralised co-curricular activities.

Of the fund disbursed Sh994 will be used for teaching and learning materials, Sh1000 for maintenance and improvement, Sh300 for medical insurance and Sh450 for co-curricular activities.

Bitok directed all principals to issue official school receipts to the Principal Secretary, State Department for Basic Education covering tuition and operation accounts with copies to the subcounty directors of education (SCDEs) and CDE.

School heads have also been directed to acknowledge receipt of funds through NEMIS by uploading a copy of the official receipt for both accounts where applicable.

“Having individual students sign form-lists that show their admission numbers and full names as in the admission register and the amount awarded. These lists should be attached to the payment voucher kept in the school as per procedure and every student issued with a school,” the memo states.

“This must be accomplished within two weeks of receipt of funds, failure to which further release of grants to such schools will be suspended. Schools that fail to acknowledge funds within the stipulated time will not be provided with FDSE funds in subsequent disbursement.”

Jogoo House also instructed the CDEs to ensure any communication to this ministry from all heads of institution clearly indicate the Unique Institutional Code (UIC) for the school in question for ease of retrieval of records related to the schools in question.

“The CDE and their respective subcounty directors of education must authenticate and monitor the accuracy of enrolment data of their schools. Schools with enrolment lower than figures used for this disbursement must refund any excess funds received back to the ministry.”

Bitok told education officials to use the school infrastructure to ensure all parents and children register with social health insurance scheme, as part of fulfilling constitutional requirement for attaining high standards of healthcare for every Kenyan.

“In line with this constitutional requirement, the registration of all Kenyans under the Social Health Authority is ongoing. To support this initiative, schools must promptly inform parents and provide necessary guidance to ensure smooth registration. Kindly ensure all parents with children in secondary schools register them under the universal medical scheme," he said.