The government has now made it compulsory for all parents and guardians to pay school fees for learners enrolled in the country’s national schools through e-citizen.
The directive which was communicated via a communique addressed to all principals of national schools on January 31, 2024 is in line with the government's initiative to streamline payment processes under the common pay bill number 222222.
The memo addressed to all Principals of national schools directed them to submit the institutions’ bank accounts for the purposes of onboarding so that school fees payments for learners in national schools can be done through the eCitizen platform for fee payments.
"The directorate of e-Citizen, in collaboration with the Information Communication Technology Authority (ICTA), Ministry of Information, Communication and the Digital Economy, and the National Treasury, is coordinating the onboarding of all government services onto the eCitizen platform to enhance service delivery," reads the memo signed by Basic Education Principal Secretary Belio Kipsang in part.
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"As part of compliance with the requirements it is directed that parents/guardians make fee payments for their learners in your institutions through this platform." Added the circular.
Details required and deadline
School heads are required to submit details of all accounts held by the institutions through which fee payments are made detailing the Bank, Account Number, Bank Code and Branch Code before February 6, 2024.
"Please ensure that the aforementioned information is submitted to the Office of the Director General, State Department for Basic Education not later than February 6, 2024, on email dg@education.go.ke and copy to sa.basic@education.go.ke." Added the circular.
Once all processes are up and running, parents will be advised on how to pay fees.
Reports indicate that while the current phase is only targeting national schools, it will serve as a pilot which if successful, will see all school fees payments made via the e-citizen platform.
A number of payments for government services have moved to the e-citizen platform with President William Ruto maintaining that consolidating the payments to one paybill number will weed out graft.