Rethink tax on education

Flags of EAC member states at a past meeting: The signing of the monetary union opens a new integration phase. FILE 

Parents of school-going children once again find themselves on the wrong end of December celebrations.

In a year that saw government officials splash millions of shillings celebrating 50 years of self-rule, parents face a contradiction of having to pay more in 2014 to keep their children in school.

At the core of this new burden is an indiscriminate 16 per cent value added tax that was introduced on essential items during the year and has lived to its potential of increasing school fees and raising prices for learning aids.

Book publishers have already hiked prices by 14 per cent, taking cue from head teachers who have also raised school fees. This can only make nonsense of the free schooling pledge that has been a popular theme during political campaigns.

Just like fighting disease and poverty, using education to fight ignorance was one of the pillars of Independence that the country celebrated this month with so much fanfare
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From left: Intel regional director Cigdem Ertem, Education Cabinet secretary Jacob Kaimenyi, and Intel East Africa general manager Daniel Steyn during the launch of Intel ‘Explore and Learn’ application at the Tribe Hotel in Nairobi November 15, 2013. Photo/Diana Ngila  

Granted, the government is not only funding primary schooling but also subsidising tuition fees for public universities and secondary schools. But this is the reason VAT should not be allowed to ruin the party. It is not too late.

The government can still go back to the drawing board, undertake the cost-benefit analysis and establish whether the country is better off taxing education.

It must also guard against unscrupulous traders who are out to exploit parents and, by extension, children of Kenya in the name of VAT.