Education Cabinet Secretary George Magoha on Thursday, September 26, ordered schools which were still holding onto students leaving certificates to release them.
Magoha, while speaking to the National Assembly Committee on Education, at Continental House, stated that students deserved to move on and denying them the documents was wrong of the teachers.
He noted that the ministry would issue a circular on Friday, September 27, to that effect.
CS Magoha added that payment of fees was a complex issue and the Education Ministry had not found a way around it.
"We have over 30,000 primary and 10,000 secondary schools in the country," Magoha reported. He explained that it was hard to punish all teachers who were holding on to the certificates because he still needed them to work in the ministry.
Magoha also made it clear that he works for the benefit of all students in the country regardless of whether they are in public or private schools.
"If you want to suggest that the government should wave the fee, we should work together to come up with an amount and budget for it," Magoha spoke.
"I have had to pay school fees for a student to get a certificate because I could not force the teacher into releasing it without clearing fees," he reiterated.
The CS claimed that his ministry had not received funds to build some schools in Nairobi, citing a primary school in Komarock. He also blamed the Ministry of Lands for not collaborating.
The Ministry of Education started a countrywide inspection of all school infrastructure to determine whether they were up to standard and safe for school-going children.
