The Basic Education Regulations, 2015

These Regulations may be cited as the Basic Education Regulations.

This section provides definitions for terms used in the Regulations (e.g. Board; Commission; Director; head of institution; institution; KCSE; Ministry; non-teaching staff; zone).

A newly appointed Board of Management must hold its inaugural meeting.

Institutions must promote co-curricular activities and ensure access to affordable sports kits; the Cabinet Secretary must draw up and circulate a calendar three months before each school year ends; students are given the opportunity to participate from institutional to national level.

Institutions are prohibited from causing parents or guardians to pay for co-curricular activities unless they have written approval from the Cabinet Secretary on the advice of the respective Country Director of Education.

All private basic education and training institutions must facilitate their learners' participation in co-curricular activities at all levels.

If government funds for a co-curricular activity are inadequate, the concerned institutions must notify the County Director of Education in writing three months before the activity; the County Director, with the County Education Board, must then consult the Cabinet Secretary about meeting the deficit.

Anyone (including heads of institutions or Board members) who sends a learner away because a parent/guardian has not paid activity fees, without written authority from the County Director of Education, commits an offence.

The County Director of Education shall be the Chairperson of the committee.

Every Board of Management must recruit, employ, remunerate, promote, demote or terminate the services of any of its employees.

Professional-cadre staff employed by a Board of Management must be employed on terms and conditions of service similar to those recommended for equivalent Civil Service posts and according to the applicable scheme of service.

If a Board of management employee raises a claim or grievance, the Board must deal with it exhaustively under the Employment Act (Cap. 226).

The Board of Management may dismiss employees without notice for gross misconduct, may terminate contracts, may request the Cabinet Secretary to terminate seconded staff, and the Cabinet Secretary must direct action where non‑teaching staff entrusted as agents fail duties, with the Cabinet Secretary's decision final.

When necessary or appropriate, a learner must be assessed for placement and continuous support at the County Education Assessment and Research Centre.

Assessments under regulation 22 must be carried out by qualified personnel with parental or guardian consent at the Centres referred to in that regulation.

Identifies types of institutions for basic education and training.

The institution provides reasonable accommodation to all learners.

The Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development must provide differentiated curricula for learners with special needs.

All learners with special needs are entitled to auxiliary services or assistive devices placed in their respective institutions.

All learners with special needs shall be evaluated and issued with appropriate certificates of achievement in the prescribed course undertaken.

Learners of school-going age who live in children's homes, borstal institutions or other corrective facilities are to be provided with basic education and training.

No person, body or organization may establish or admit learners to a private or public institution unless they first obtain written authority from the Cabinet Secretary.

All institutions referred to in regulation 3 must be registered in the manner and form prescribed through guidelines issued by the Cabinet Secretary.

The head of a public basic education institution is responsible for day-to-day management and is appointed by the Commission; the Cabinet Secretary must revoke the head's accounting officer designation and seek a replacement if impropriety is found; for private institutions the Cabinet Secretary must ask the proprietor to appoint a replacement; the Teachers Service Commission or proprietor must institute disciplinary action in paragraphs (3) and (4).

Sets out qualifications for members of the Board of Management in relation to a pre-primary or primary school.

When a board vacancy occurs the head of the institution must notify the County Education Board through the sub-county office and request that the vacancy be filled; upon that request the County Education Board must in writing ask nominating entities to send names of suitably qualified persons for appointment to the Board of Management.

Board nominees must meet Article 10 and Chapter Six constitutional requirements; Board composition must follow the two‑third gender rule; appointed Boards serve three years, renewable once.

If a Board of Management is dissolved for reasons like gross misconduct, incapacity, or the institution changing its mandate or ceasing to operate, the County Education Board must appoint a five-member interim committee to manage the institution.

Every institution of basic education must develop school rules that are subjected to public participation and must not be inconsistent with the Act or other relevant written law.

No institution must implement the rules referred to in regulation 30 until those rules have been approved by the institution's Board of Management.

Individuals can be held liable for indiscipline, including physical fights.

Mentions mass indiscipline and unlawful demonstration.

If the head observes student activities likely to disrupt the institution, the head must close the institution and notify the County Director of Education within 24 hours; the notice must bear the head's signature and is only valid if signed.

The Board of Management may close an institution for up to two weeks in cases of mass indiscipline, and must submit a report to the County Education Board within two days after such a closure.

When the Board receives a report it may confirm or end an institution's closure, determine conditions for students' re-admission, or order placement to a correctional facility; where property is damaged the institution's management must invite a registered loss assessor and the assessed loss shall be borne by the person found most responsible for the mass indiscipline.

Every institution must establish and keep a register of indisciplined learners recording name, class, category of indiscipline, date and warning or other corrective measures.

Acts of indiscipline that have persisted despite warnings or corrective measures taken under these regulations.

Sets procedures for disciplinary cases: complaint read to parent/guardian and learner; adjournment and rescheduling rules if parent/guardian absent; Sub-county Education Officer must attend; Board must communicate recommendations to County Director within two days.

Allows exclusion of a learner for indiscipline and provides for an order for conditional or unconditional re-admission.

Any person aggrieved by a decision under regulation 40 may appeal to the Education Appeals Tribunal.

Schools are prohibited from withdrawing a learner's registration as a candidate in a national examination as a form of punishment.

A parent or guardian may request the transfer of a learner in writing.

Public schools or institutions are prohibited from issuing alternative fee structures unless those fee structures are approved by the Cabinet Secretary.

People or Boards of Management in public basic education institutions must not change or raise fees unless they have written authority from the Cabinet Secretary.

Members of an institution's Board of Management who contravene regulation 44 or 45 shall be guilty of an offence under the Act.

The minimum age for admission to primary school is six years; and learners of school-going age must not be denied admission for lack of proof of age.

Transit of a learner: entry examination except as provided for in section 34(4) of the Act;

People deployed to teach in basic education institutions must have completed a training program approved or recognized by the Cabinet Secretary and registered by the Teachers Service Commission.

Section 50 lists mandatory provisions in institutions, including a first aid kit for each class and training for the school community; adequate safe and clean water; age- and gender-appropriate sanitation; disability-friendly facilities; safe playing grounds and equipment; spacious learning rooms; appropriate furniture and utilities; and within boarding facilities a qualified nurse, a watchman, and other suitable adult supervision.

Section 51 — Curriculum development: a national basic education curricular in line with the Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development Act (Cap. 211A).

The Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development may accredit other agencies involved in curriculum development with the Cabinet Secretary's approval and in line with the Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development Act (Cap. 211A).

The Cabinet Secretary must retain policy-making and oversight of curriculum preparation and approval and vetting of all educational materials for use in institutions.

Boards of management (public) and managers (private) must ensure curricula and instructional materials are developed or approved by the Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development.

An institution may, notwithstanding regulation 54 and after consulting its Parents Teachers Association or Parents Association, recommend supplementary instructional materials for use by learners.

Section on conduct of school-based assessment.

The Cabinet Secretary must issue guidelines on course books; all schools must keep a secure room for instructional materials; possession of stamped instructional materials without authority is an offence.

Learners who have completed a full course of primary education are entitled to admission to secondary school regardless of primary evaluation scores; schools and basic education institutions must not transfer a learner without written approval of the County Director of Education.

A learner progressing from primary to a public secondary school of their choice must not be subjected to interviews, pre-qualification exams, or required to make any payments before admission.

The County Director of Education, in consultation with the County Education Board, must institute affirmative action so that learners from minority or marginalized groups, learners with special needs, and learners living in especially difficult circumstances can be admitted to secondary schools.

Requires recording learners' bio-data: the name and date of birth.

Section 62 lists required information about parents: full name, nationality and place of residence.

Section title refers to registers and records and mentions the registration certificate of the institution.

Institutions: outdoor and indoor playing facilities and equipment must include provisions for persons with disabilities.

Section 65(2) requires any person offering professional counselling services to institutions to be duly qualified, registered as a counselor under the appropriate law, and approved by the Cabinet Secretary. Section 65(1)(a)-(c) lists guidance, counselling and spiritual development services.

The Board of Management must report to the Teachers Service Commission and the County Education Board about staffing-level matters.

Boards or managers must develop a common learner dress code in consultation with Parents Associations (and sponsors for sponsored schools); institutions must not prescribe a specific supplier of uniforms or other materials for parents or guardians.

Institutions of Alternative Basic Education, Training and Continuing Adult Education may use facilities of existing public or private institutions or premises on request.

Learners under 18 enrolled in institutions covered by this Part are entitled to capitation grants under the free and compulsory education programme.

All institutions of Alternative Basic, Adult and Continuing Education must offer only curricula approved by the Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development.

Learners above the age of eighteen years shall only be admitted into institutions of alternative basic, adult and continuing education.

When admitting learners to alternative basic, adult and continuing education institutions, the institution must use the learner's prior ability, knowledge and competencies to determine placement.

Institutions of alternative basic, adult and continuing education must conduct their programs using accelerated and self-directed learning to cover the prescribed curriculum.

Public institutions of alternative basic, adult and continuing education may charge levies if approved by the Cabinet Secretary in consultation with the County Education Board.

The national government, through the relevant Ministries, must provide infrastructure-improvement grants to institutions of alternative basic adult and continuing education.

A middle level institution of basic education must include an institution offering pre-service and in-service teacher training courses that support basic education.

No public middle level institution of basic education and training shall be transferred or converted to another use except with the approval of the Cabinet Secretary.

Private middle level institutions may only offer courses or programs whose curriculum is developed or approved by the Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development or agencies recognized by the Cabinet Secretary; certification of those courses or programs is the responsibility of the Kenya National Examinations Council or any other body recognized by the Cabinet Secretary.

Classification of institutions Section the gender of learners admitted;

No person or Board of Management must not change the status of a registered institution unless re-registered.

The Board of Management is responsible for safety, security and hygiene in institutions of basic education and training.

The Board of Management of an institution must put in place reasonable measures for learners' hygiene, security and safety while at or travelling for the institution.

The Board of Management must ensure adequate security.

Day institutions of basic education and training must not require learners to report earlier than 7.15 a.m.; boarding institutions must not send away an unaccompanied learner later than 9.00 a.m.

Revokes The Education (Education Standards) Regulations, 1968 (LN 106/1968).