Proposed penalties for unregistered private schools and plans to regulate fees have triggered strong objections from education stakeholders, who want Parliament to revise parts of the Basic Education Bill before it becomes law.
The stakeholders spoke in Kilifi as the National Assembly Departmental Committee on Education and Research continued gathering public views on six proposed education laws ahead of their consideration by Parliament.
Kenya Private Schools Association (KPSA) chairman Christopher Kambi said the proposed punishment for running an unregistered school was too severe and called for a process that gives those accused an opportunity to respond before facing heavy penalties.
“The Basic Education Bill proposes that an investor in an unregistered school be fined Sh20 million or jailed for three years. Our proposal is that before it reaches that level, there should be due diligence and the accused should be given time to explain. There should be room for dialogue,” he said.
Kambi further proposed that people intending to establish private schools should first join KPSA before approaching the Ministry of Education for registration.
“We propose that before the Ministry of Education registers a private school, the owners must first become members of KPSA so that we can conduct our own procedures to ensure the new school meets legal requirements,” he said.
The association also rejected a proposal that would allow the Ministry of Education to control fees charged by private schools.
Kambi said private institutions should be permitted to decide their charges instead of having the government determine the fees they can collect.
“The bill also proposes regulations on school fees, which we have opposed. We want private schools to be allowed to determine their own fee structures because we cannot wait for the government to dictate what fees we should charge,” he said.
The proposed reforms also drew criticism over the management of junior secondary schools.
Kenya Union of Post Primary Education Teachers (Kuppet) Kilifi branch executive secretary Opolo Kopolo called for junior secondary schools to be separated from primary schools and given independent management structures.
He said the decision to place junior secondary education within primary schools had resulted in challenges in both administration and funding.
“The introduction of comprehensive schools was a dangerous move. The government has spent a lot of money because the Presidential Working Party listened to emotions rather than facts,” Kopolo said.
He argued that junior secondary schools were placed in primary institutions despite the availability of human resources in senior schools.
“Junior secondary was domiciled in primary schools, yet the human resources already existed in senior schools.”
Kopolo said the government should be prepared to allocate more resources towards creating independent junior secondary schools if that would improve the learning environment and management of the institutions.
“The government should not be afraid of spending money to create autonomous junior secondary schools so we can better support the learner,” Kopolo said.
The Kilifi meeting was part of a wider exercise through which the committee is collecting views on six education reform bills.
The proposals before the committee are the Basic Education (Amendment) Bill, 2026; the Tertiary Education, Placement and Funding Bill; and the Pre-Service Education and In-Service Training Bill, 2026.
They also include the Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development (Amendment) Bill, 2026; the Kenya National Educational Assessments Council Bill, 2026; and the Kenya National Qualifications Framework (Amendment) Bill, 2026.
Kitutu Masaba MP Clive Gisairo, who headed the committee delegation, said the exercise was intended to give stakeholders an opportunity to present their views before the proposed laws advance through the parliamentary process.
He said the bills seek to address different areas of education, covering basic education, funding for tertiary education, teacher training, curriculum development, national assessments and qualifications.
“We have come to Tana River and Kilifi counties for public participation to hear the views and opinions of stakeholders before these bills proceed through Parliament,” the legislator said.