Schools Ordered to Refund Fees to Parents After Cancellation of 2020 Academic Year

The government has directed all primary and secondary schools to refund second and third term fees to parents.

This follows the Education Ministry’s decision to cancel the 2020 academic year due to the coronavirus pandemic.

However, Education CS Prof. George Magoha on Wednesday said schools and parents can strike an agreement to let the fees cover for when schools reopen in January 2021.

He was responding to concerns raised by parents with children in private schools who had already paid fees for the entire year.

The Education Ministry on Tuesday said the decision to annul the 2020 school calendar was informed by the rising number of Covid-19 infections in the country. As a result, an earlier plan to reopen schools on September 1st, 2020 was shelved. The schools will now be opened in January 2021.

The 2020 Class 8 and Form 4 candidates will sit their KCPE and KCSE examinations respectively later in 2021.

In addition, all learners in Grade 1 to 4 and Standard 5 to 7 as well as Form 1 to 3 will remain in their current classes next year.

As of Wednesday, there were 8,528 confirmed cases of Covid-19 in Kenya, 2593 recoveries while the death toll stands at 169.