Basic Education Act

The Act may be cited as the Basic Education Act.

Defines 'Section' as: any institution or assembly for which a Cabinet Secretary other than the Cabinet Secretary responsible for matters relating to basic education and training is responsible.

This Act applies to all institutions of basic education.

Every child is entitled to free and compulsory basic education.

Sets out how the Selection Panel is appointed and the timeline and steps for inviting, shortlisting, interviewing and appointing the Chairperson and members of the Board, including time limits for the Cabinet Secretary and Selection Panel and requirements for public advertisement and consideration of representation and equity.

Members vacate office if they die, resign by written notice to the Cabinet Secretary, are absent from three consecutive Board meetings without good cause, or are removed under subsection (2), which lists grounds for removal.

The Cabinet Secretary may, in consultation with the Board and on prescribed terms and conditions, second officers, agents and other staff as necessary to enable the Board to discharge its functions under the Act.

The Board may engage consultants and experts to assist in carrying out its functions under this Act.

The Chairperson and members of the Board are to be paid remuneration, fees, allowances and expense disbursements as approved by the Cabinet Secretary in consultation with the Salaries and Remuneration Commission.

The National Education Board must submit an annual report to the Cabinet Secretary; the Cabinet Secretary may require a report from the Board on a particular matter at any time.

The Board must recommend, via an open, transparent and competitive recruitment process, a suitably qualified person for appointment by the Cabinet Secretary as Secretary to the Board; the Secretary is appointed by the Cabinet Secretary, is an ex officio member with no right to vote, must manage day-to-day affairs subject to Board directions, perform other functions as the Board determines, and shall serve on terms the Cabinet Secretary determines upon advice of the Salaries and Remuneration Commission.

Establishes the National Education Board and sets out its functions, including collaborating with relevant bodies, initiating approval guidelines for basic education institutions, promoting school attendance and transitions for vulnerable children, and producing an annual report on education and service delivery.

The Board must conduct and regulate its business and affairs as provided in the First Schedule; except as so provided, the Board may regulate its own procedure.

The Board is made up of a Chairperson and eight other members appointed by the Cabinet Secretary; the Chairperson serves four years (eligible for one further four-year term); other members serve three years (eligible for one further three-year term).

Sets the qualifications required for appointment as Chairperson or member of the Board, including specified degrees, experience, distinguished career and Chapter Six compliance.

Disqualifications from appointnment Section is a member of Parliament or a county assembly;

A County Education Board is established for every county and that County Education Board is an agent of the National Education Board.

County Education Boards are assigned multiple functions for managing, coordinating, monitoring and promoting education and training in the county and must perform those functions; the Board may, in consultation with the National Education Board and stakeholders, appoint a sub-county education office.

The County Education Board must work in consultation and co-operation with the National Education Board; the Cabinet Secretary, in consultation with the National Education Board, must make regulations prescribing coordination between the National and County Education Boards.

Section 20 names the composition of County Education Boards.

County Education Boards must follow the Second Schedule for the conduct and regulation of their business and affairs; except as set out in the Second Schedule, they may regulate their own procedure.

Chairperson serves four years (renewable once); members serve three years (renewable); Cabinet Secretary must, by regulation, provide for staggering inaugural board terms.

Members of County Education Boards are entitled to be paid allowances and disbursements for expenses, subject to approval by the Cabinet Secretary in consultation with the Salaries and Remuneration Commission.

The County Education Boards may, from time to time, co-opt up to three people into its membership when satisfied they have relevant skills and experience to assist the Board's functions.

The County Education Board may establish committees, shall appoint committee chairpersons from among its members, may co‑opt persons to attend committee deliberations, and may review committee decisions.

County governments must provide funds for infrastructure for basic education and training institutions; the national government may transfer related infrastructure functions to counties (with request and agreement) and may allocate conditional grants when it does so.

The Sponsor is to participate and make recommendations on the review of syllabus, curriculum, books and other teaching aids.

The Cabinet Secretary must implement every child's right to free and compulsory basic education.

Public schools must not charge tuition fees for any pupil; non‑Kenyan persons may be required to pay tuition; no one may collect levies without issuing an official receipt.

Parents must take their children to school; failure is an offence subject to a fine up to one hundred thousand shillings or imprisonment up to one year, but subsection (2) does not apply if a parent or guardian presents a satisfactory reason to the County Director of Education within a reasonable time.

Parents or guardians must present their children for admission to basic education; failure is an offence punishable by a fine up to one hundred thousand, imprisonment up to two years, or both; parents/guardians have the right to participate in their child's character development.

No person must not collect any admission fee when admitting a child to a public school or basic education institution.

Section 33 requires that for admission to basic education a child's age be determined by a birth certificate issued under the Births, Deaths Registration Act or, if the child has attained school-going age of four years, by other prescribed documents; and no child shall be denied admission for lack of proof of age.

The section requires that schools and admission officers do not discriminate in admitting children; children must not be denied admission to public schools; County Education Boards must review denials; public schools cannot use admission tests except to place pupils; the Cabinet Secretary may set admission criteria by regulation.

Pupils must be given incentives to complete basic education; pupils shall not be held back or expelled except as regulated by the Cabinet Secretary, who may make regulations for expulsion or discipline after other measures and a hearing; such pupils must be admitted to corrective educational institutions.

Pupils have the right not to be subjected to torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment (physical or psychological).

Pupils are entitled not to be subjected to holiday tuition.

No person shall employ a child of compulsory school age in work that prevents the child from attending school.

The Government is responsible for providing free and compulsory basic education to every child.

HeadTeacher must investigate when a pupil fails to attend; parents who, without reasonable cause and after written notice, fail to comply with section 38 commit an offence and face fines or imprisonment.

Creates an Education Standards and Quality Assurance Council and assigns it duties to maintain standards and quality in basic education, administer policies, oversee curriculum delivery, monitor assessments with county education, and evaluate standards.

The Council must appoint quality assurance and standards officers for the purposes of this Act.

Quality Assurance and Standards Officers must promote and facilitate compliance with education standards, have powers to enter and inspect institutions, require documents and attendance, take recordings, recommend suspension, and may make recommendations to authorities; school heads must allow access and provide records when requested.

Specific education authorities must ensure maintenance of standards, quality and relevance of education and training.

The Principal Secretary must oversee the administration and implementation of the National Qualifications Framework with regard to basic education.

The Cabinet Secretary must continuously review, evaluate and monitor policies on standards and relevance in education and training, in consultation with relevant departments or agencies and stakeholders, through regulations and appropriate measures.

Section directs development or adaptation of appropriate national and international standards.

Ensure compliance with quality and relevance in the provision and delivery of education.

The Cabinet Secretary must make regulations on standards, quality and relevance in education in Kenya in consultation with relevant stakeholders.

The Cabinet Secretary must, with advice from the National Education Board, continuously develop, review, evaluate and monitor the curriculum and must make regulations; basic education institutions may initiate curriculum policy reviews in consultation with quality assurance bodies, agency and industry; curriculum must be reviewed every five years.

The section establishes a Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development; the Cabinet Secretary must accredit curriculum development agencies; accredited agencies must develop curricula per the National Qualifications Framework and Act policies; any person or institution may propose curricula; contravening the section is an offence.

No person or institution may both develop and teach and examine and certify a curriculum unless they have accreditation and approval under this Act.

Promotion of education

Sets structural goals for education access and assigns duties to the Cabinet Secretary to make regulations and advise government on financing and environmental protection education.

Defines public and private schools, and prohibits converting a public basic education institution to private status without consultation and Cabinet Secretary approval.

The Cabinet Secretary must establish and maintain public special schools, provide special needs education in suitable schools, and ensure special schools have appropriate trained staff, infrastructure, learning materials and equipment.

The Cabinet Secretary may make regulations governing establishment and management of special schools and institutions offering special needs education, including prescribing curricula, standards, categories of pupils, and monitoring mechanisms.

Every County Education Board must, in consultation with the relevant county government and subject to the Constitution and this Act, provide education assessment and research centres including a special needs service in identified clinics in the county.

The County Education Board must consider future provision for each child with special needs in its area after basic education and must report to the Director-General or relevant Director.

A County Education Board must, in consultation with the Cabinet Secretary, make arrangements to enable a pupil with special needs to attend an establishment in or outside Kenya.

Any person may establish and maintain a private school.

A person must not establish or maintain a private school unless the school is registered under this Act.

Any person who requires basic education may attend a private school.

Private schools must perform specified duties—establish governance and educational structures, recruit registered teachers, follow the approved curriculum, maintain premises and materials, keep and submit pupil data to the Cabinet Secretary, and when requested provide evidence of pupil progress; the County Education Board (with the Teachers Service Commission) must assess private schools and inspect facilities as required by the Cabinet Secretary.

The Cabinet Secretary must be responsible for overall governance and management of basic education, and subject to the Act must by regulation entrust governance or management of any aspect of basic education and training to an appropriate agency, body, organ or institution.

The Cabinet Secretary must make regulations to establish governance and management structures for basic education at national and county levels; the Cabinet Secretary must deploy County Directors of Education; County Directors have specified responsibilities and authority.

Schools must have parents associations; private schools must establish parents' teachers associations.

Section 56 sets out membership and governance rules for a school's Board of Management, including who composes the board, the Board's power to co‑opt members, voting restrictions for co‑opted members, and rules for selecting or appointing the Chairperson.

The Cabinet Secretary must, by regulations, prescribe qualifications for persons appointed or co‑opted to boards of management of basic education institutions.

Section 58 has been repealed.

The Board of Management must promote the best interests of the institution and ensure its development.

Every public school or institution of basic education must submit an annual report to the Director of Basic Education.

The board of management of a basic education institution may establish committees to perform functions and discharge responsibilities it considers necessary.

The head of a basic education institution must serve as the secretary to the Board of Management.

Members of the Board of Management must be paid allowances as provided by the Cabinet Secretary by regulations on the advice of the Salaries and Remuneration Commission.

Persons or organisations wanting to establish a basic education institution must apply in the prescribed manner to the relevant County Education Board; the Board must record the application, notify the applicant within thirty days if satisfied the requirements are met, and if approved inform the county office representing the Education, Standards and Quality Assurance Council for primary or secondary schools.

The County Education Board may reject an application if it is not satisfied the institution meets the Act's requirements and must notify the applicant within thirty days; a person aggrieved may appeal to the Education Appeals Tribunal within thirty days of the decision.

Persons must not promote, manage or teach basic education unless accredited and registered; persons must not use premises to provide education by any mode unless the institution has undergone quality review and approval. Contravention is an offence punishable by a fine not exceeding twenty million shillings or imprisonment not exceeding three years or both.

The County Education Board must maintain a databank of registered, accredited, licensed and incorporated educational institutions, teachers, and pupils/students in the County.

Any person applying to establish, license, register or accredit a basic education and training institution must pay the prescribed fees to the relevant agencies.

The Cabinet Secretary must, in consultation with the Education, Standards and Quality Assurance Council and relevant stakeholders, establish guidelines and prescribe rules and regulations for establishing, licensing, accrediting and registering basic education and training institutions.

The Education, Standards and Quality Assurance Council must assess licence applications for basic education institutions and report to the County Education Board; institutions must meet specified staffing, facilities, premises, health and safety, infrastructure and equipment requirements.

An application to the County Education Board for establishing a basic education institution must provide the section name and the physical, postal and electronic addresses of the proposed institution.

Public examinations must be conducted as provided under the Kenya National Examination Council Act; the section also addresses school-based assessments, conditions, and certification of those assessments.

An aggrieved person may, within thirty days of being notified, appeal a County Education Board decision to the Education Appeals Tribunal.

Funds described in subsection (1) are to be used to promote basic education.

The financial year of the Department of Education shall be the government financial year.

The Cabinet Secretary must cause the Department's annual estimates of revenue and expenditure to be prepared before the start of each financial year; Parliament must approve those annual estimates before the financial year begins.

The Cabinet Secretary must keep all proper books and records of accounts for the Department, showing income, expenditure, assets and liabilities.

Requires the Cabinet Secretary to establish school-based auditing mechanisms and to make regulations for public schools; requires officers responsible for school-based auditing in public schools to advise and work with school leaders and governing bodies to maintain accounts and assets.

The Cabinet Secretary may invest Department funds in trustee‑permitted or Treasury‑approved securities; the Cabinet may deposit monies not immediately required in banks it determines.

On a first conviction, the offender is liable to a fine not exceeding two hundred thousand shillings, or to imprisonment not exceeding twelve months, or both.

Creates an Education Appeals Tribunal, allows aggrieved persons to appeal County Education Board decisions to that Tribunal, and requires the Cabinet Secretary to make regulations on its operation and structure.

Establishes the National Council for Nomadic Education in Kenya and provides that the Council shall be constituted in the manner set out in the Sixth Schedule.

The Cabinet Secretary may make regulations on a wide range of education matters listed in Section 95, including duties and rights of students.

Property, assets, rights, obligations, liabilities and staff of institutions under repealed Acts transfer to the respective institutions established under this Act.

The Cabinet Secretary may, in consultation with the National Education Board, make regulations to prescribe matters and better carry the Act into effect.

Repeals the Education Act (Cap. 211).

Proceedings, instruments and rights of review or appeal that existed immediately before this Act commenced continue to be treated as subsisting under the corresponding enactments in this Act.

If a time period set by a repealed Act is still running when this Act begins, this Act counts that period as if the earlier provision had been in force from when the period started.

Registers, registrations, certificates, letters of Interim Authority, notices or information, returns and other acts done under repealed Acts remain in force as if done under the corresponding provision of this Act; forms and requirements for particulars used under the repealed Acts continue until prescribed under this Act.