Public schools are facing renewed financial strain as delayed capitation and unpaid past balances continue to consume funds meant for learning, leaving many institutions focused more on clearing debts than running normal school activities.
Deputy Secretary General of the Kenya National Union of Teachers, Hesbon Otieno Agola, said schools are trapped in a cycle where new allocations are quickly absorbed by old arrears, limiting what is available for day-to-day operations.
Speaking during a Radio Generation interview on Tuesday, Otieno said schools continue to struggle because government capitation often fails to clear arrears carried forward from previous financial years, locking institutions into recurring debt cycles.
The KNUT official said although fresh funds are released, most of it goes into settling outstanding bills instead of supporting ongoing learning.
“The debt that the schools have keeps accumulating,” he said, adding that “if the disbursement that is meant to settle these debts is not sent to the schools, then the schools keep on struggling every other year.”
He added that suppliers are among the main beneficiaries of the funds once released. “If they acquired services, if they acquired provisions which they were supposed to pay for, the money didn’t come,” he said. “So if you pay them now, they will be paying to clear the debt.”
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Otieno welcomed the second term funding released by the Ministry of Education, saying it was timely but still inadequate. “They have released that to the schools early enough, we say kudos if it can make the schools settle and provide education for the second term,” he said.
The remarks follow the release of about Sh23.4 billion in capitation by the Ministry of Education for the second term of the 2026 academic year to support public schools.
The funds were released before the April 27 reopening date to support operations in primary, junior, and secondary schools under the free basic education programme.
Basic Education Principal Secretary Julius Bitok said the money had already been received from the National Treasury and would be sent directly to schools to avoid disruption.
President William Ruto had earlier directed timely release of capitation, saying delays had affected learning for years and must be fixed.
The Ministry said the funds will cover learning materials, administration costs, and co-curricular activities.
Earlier in January 2026, schools received Sh44.2 billion for Term One capitation.
Otieno highlighted that the funding structure is meant to follow a 50-30-20 split across the year, but warned that unpaid balances distort school budgets.
“The only gap that there is is the government does not consider the previous financial year where they did not release all the capitation that was required,” he said, adding that once a financial year ends, unpaid balances are not carried forward. “If it wasn’t given in that year period, forget it. That is gone,” he said.
KNUT Deputy SG warned that the situation weakens the promise of free and quality education, saying schools cannot function well without proper staffing and learning materials.
“The government should provide free basic education, and not only free basic education, they have to provide quality education,” he said. “When we talk about quality education, three major ingredients must come in.”
He also raised concern over textbook supply under the competency-based curriculum, especially in science-related subjects, noting that planning for Grade 11 materials must begin early.
“The government should be able to project and focus and say that in one year’s time there will be transition from Grade 10 to Grade 11,” he said.
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Otieno further warned that delayed payments could discourage publishers from producing learning materials since government remains the main buyer. “You cannot produce books which will not go anywhere because you don’t have somebody to acquire them,” he said.
On teachers’ welfare, he said KNUT continues to receive complaints about the current medical scheme and has engaged relevant authorities to address the concerns.
The KNUT official said Kenya has enough resources for education, but poor planning and delayed payments continue to strain schools. “We are alive and kicking,” he said. “We are talking about a problem in this country, and we are talking about resources.”