CS Mbadi: KCSE funds frozen over misuse, but parents won’t pay

Parents need not to worry about paying for the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) exams, Treasury Cabinet Secretary John Mbadi has assured, despite a temporary pause in government funding for the national tests.

In an interview on Ramogi FM on Wednesday, Mbadi explained that the government halted the annual Sh11 billion allocation for the KCSE exams to investigate reports of misuse of the funds by some officials in previous years.

The move is meant to protect taxpayers’ money and create a more transparent system for managing exam funds.

“We have not removed the money so that parents can pay. No parent will pay the examination fees. We are trying to assess various things, including why the government should pay a student's examination fees,” Mbadi said.

He raised questions about the high cost of printing examination materials abroad, noting that exam papers are currently printed in London, England, at a considerable expense to taxpayers.

The CS wondered why the government continues to spend large sums on this process, describing it as unnecessary for a local examination.

“As a minister, why should the government pay my child's examination fees? Why must our examinations be printed in London, England, just a mere examination?” he asked.

Mbadi said the government intends to use the pause in funding to develop a new system that will stop misuse and improve how exam money is managed.

He assured parents and students that once the new structure is in place, the government will release funds to cover exam costs as usual.

The clarification came after the National Assembly Education Committee criticised the Treasury for leaving out exam funding in the recent budget.

The committee, chaired by Julius Melly, accused the ministry of risking the education sector’s stability by presenting a zero allocation for exams.

“Exams are activities that take place at the end of every year. Summative exams have to take place. But you have presented a budget with zero. Why is it not in the budget?” Melly questioned Education Principal Secretary Julius Bitok during a recent parliamentary session. In response, Bitok acknowledged the funding gaps but promised the government is working to resolve the issue.

He said discussions are ongoing between the Treasury and the Kenya National Examinations Council (KNEC) to ensure exams are fully funded and administered on time.

“We assure the public that we are discussing with the National Treasury to ensure that we address this issue,” Bitok said.

This assurance aims to calm fears among students, parents, and teachers who had expressed concern over the possibility of parents being asked to pay exam fees due to the zero-budget allocation.

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• but parents won’t pay

With government officials working to improve accountability, the exams are expected to proceed without additional costs to families.