Parents to pay more for books and uniforms

Corporate News

Students at Kabarnet Bus terminus on their way home. PHOTO | FILE 

By MUGAMBI MUTEGI, pmutegi@ke.nationmedia.com

In Summary

• It is a painful start to the new year as retailers increase prices by up to 20pc, citing inflation.
• Most city bookshops have increased textbook prices by up to 10 per cent across the board, a development that is expected to hit parents with children in private schools hardest.
• Most secondary schools – private and public – have increased their annual fees by large margins even as the government insists on compliance with fees guidelines it published a month ago.

School uniform and textbook retailers have increased prices steeply setting up parents for a painful start to the year when schools open next week.

A survey of retail outlets in Nairobi showed that prices of key learning items have increased by double digits with traders citing the steady rise in the cost of living and of doing business in the city.

Prices of secondary school uniforms have increased with the highest margins of nearly 20 per cent.

Most city bookshops have increased textbook prices by up to 10 per cent across the board, a development that is expected to hit parents with children in private schools hardest.

The government buys books for public schools under the free primary and subsidised secondary school education programme.

It has not helped that most secondary schools – private and public – have increased their annual fees by large margins even as the government insists on compliance with fees guidelines it published a month ago.

The fee structure, which came out of the report of a presidential task force appointed to look into the high cost of education and propose
practical ways of reducing it, had capped the fees at Sh56,900 annually.

But head teachers have dismissed the figure as unrealistic citing the high cost of school equipment and food.

The Business Daily learned that the steep increase in fees is partly the result of the many levies that school administrators are asking parents to pay.

Most school are, for instance, charging Parents and Teachers Association levies at rates that are way above the Sh2,000 limit set by the government.

There is also evidence that school administrators have ignored Education secretary Jacob Kaimenyi’s December 18, circular directing them not to charge national examination fees, with parents being asked to pay as much as Sh5,600.

These added costs come at a time when inflation – the key parameter that uniform and textbook retailers use to justify price increments – has fallen steadily in the past three months. Inflation fell to 6.09 per cent in November, the lowest point in 16 months.

“The price increments cannot be said to be tied to the state of the economy since key indicators such as inflation have stayed relatively stable,” said Musau Ndunda, the secretary- general for the Kenya National Association of Parents.

“Parents are unjustifiably having to shoulder high prices and nobody seems to care.”

An attendant at Prince Uniforms, located along Nairobi’s River Road, said the cost of uniforms had increased by between Sh100 and Sh250. The employee, who declined to be named because his employer had not authorised him to speak to the media, however, downplayed the price increment saying it was not linked to the holiday festivities.