It is now confirmed that the 2025/26 budget will not entirely factor in the national examination fees.
Kenyan parents will now be forced to pay for their children’s national examination fees starting next year.
National Treasury Cabinet Secretary John Mbadi said the budget for the 2025/26 fiscal year will not accommodate the examination fees entirely.
The CS said the subsidy would be retained for learners from poor households.
Mbadi appreciated the disparity in income levels for Kenyans, noting that the waiver was being enjoyed even by learners from rich backgrounds.
He said a criterion would be devised to determine which learner qualifies for the examination fees waiver.
The CS said the move is aimed at cutting costs and freeing more revenue to critical areas of the economy as the government strives to shun loans.
“We have to review the costs in the sense that we must ask ourselves, why should we pay examination fees for all students? You see, in 2026, Kenya is projected to have approximately 3 million students sitting for their national examinations, around 1.2 million anticipated to sit for KIPSEA, and over 960,000 for KCSE. If your child is learning in a private school where you pay KES 300,000, KES 1 million in a year, honestly, can’t you pay KES 5,000 for examination fee for that child? Why should you force, make Kenyans, taxpayers, some of whom can barely eke a living, to pay examination fee for your child?” Mbadi posed.
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