The Commission on Administrative Justice has fiercely condemned a KES 30 SMS fee imposed on parents checking school placement results, calling it a discriminatory barrier to basic education.

Access to education is a fundamental constitutional right, yet bureaucratic monetization threatens to exclude the nation's most vulnerable families. The Ombudsman's intervention highlights a growing trend of indirect taxation on essential public services.

This nominal fee, while seemingly small to policymakers, represents a significant hurdle for rural and low-income households navigating the transition to Grade 10 under the new educational framework.

The Burden of Digital Access

In a strongly worded directive addressed to Basic Education Principal Secretary Julius Bitok, the Ombudsman criticised the Ministry of Education for failing to provide accessible alternatives. While an online portal exists, inadequate public awareness has forced millions to rely on the costly SMS service.

The Sh30 charge, multiplied across hundreds of thousands of students, translates into a massive, unregulated revenue stream for mobile network operators, extracted directly from struggling parents.

A Regulatory Tightrope

The Ministry of Education must navigate a challenging regulatory environment, balancing the costs of digital infrastructure with the mandate for free and accessible education. Outsourcing service delivery to private telecommunications companies without strict cost caps has proven detrimental to the public interest.

The Ombudsman has demanded immediate negotiations with service providers to drastically reduce or eliminate these access charges.

• The Ministry must launch comprehensive awareness campaigns detailing free alternative access channels.
• Future digital services must incorporate toll-free options for essential government information.
• A transparent audit of the revenue generated from the SMS fees is required to ensure public accountability.

The Broader Economic Context

This controversy unfolds against a backdrop of severe economic hardship in Kenya. With rising inflation and stagnant wages, parents are already overwhelmed by the costs of school uniforms, transport, and ancillary educational fees.

The imposition of a premium charge for basic administrative information is viewed by many as an exploitative practice that disproportionately targets the poor.

"Public service delivery must never be commodified; access to a child's educational future should not depend on their parent's airtime balance."