Is holiday tuition illegal in Kenya? What the law says, and what your child does instead

You have seen a message like this in a parents’ WhatsApp group. “A teacher is offering holiday classes for Grade 8, revision and past papers, three hours a day. Who is in?” Twenty replies follow. Half say “me”. The other half ask the same question: isn’t this illegal?

The short answer comes first. The long one changes what you do with the holiday.

What the law says

Section 37 of the Basic Education Act 2013 has two parts. The first reads: “No pupil shall be subjected to holiday tuition.” The second sets the penalty for anyone who breaks it: a fine of up to KSh 100,000, up to one year in prison, or both.

On 30 July 2025, the Ministry of Education sent a memo restating the ban. According to Education News, it said holiday tuition remains banned in both public and private basic education institutions, and no formal teaching should happen during the official holidays. It allowed one narrow exception: remedial help for specific learners who need academic support, supervised by Ministry quality assurance officers, not sold for money and not compulsory for everyone.

The Act itself does not define “holiday tuition”. Read together with the memo, the target is clear enough: schools and teachers running the term’s syllabus through the holidays, often for a fee.

I’m not a lawyer, and this isn’t legal advice. If a case matters to you, ask your county education office.

“More lessons in the holiday means better marks”

Parents who pay for holiday tuition aren’t careless. They see the competition and they worry. In the 2025 KCSE, 27 in every 100 candidates reached C+, the grade for direct university entry. More revision feels like the responsible choice.

Look at what the extra hours replace, though. A holiday spent on past papers is a holiday where the child never gets bored enough to start something of their own. Never learns to swim. Never reads a book nobody assigned. Never finishes a project because they wanted to.

School holidays are the only weeks of the year when a child’s time doesn’t belong to the syllabus.

A harder question

What does your child do well when nobody sets the work?

Some children don’t know yet. Twelve years of timetables, homework and revision leave little room to find out. A child who reaches Grade 10 without ever choosing a project, sticking with it and finishing it has missed a skill no exam measures.

The holiday is where the answer grows. Term 3 closed on 23 October. Term 1 opens on 4 January. Those weeks belong to your child.

What fills a holiday well

• Rest, for the first week at least, with no plan at all
• A skill with a result your child sees: swimming, cooking a full meal, building a game, playing a full chess game with notation
• Reading chosen by the child, not the school
• Work around the home with a visible result
• One fixed morning routine, so the days don’t dissolve into the screen

Before you pay for any holiday programme, ask two questions. Does it teach the school syllabus or exam papers? Does it run at a school? A yes to either deserves a closer look at the law above.

Read it yourself

Section 37 is two lines. Read it, read the Ministry memo, and decide what fits your family. If your child needs remedial help in a subject, talk to the school about the supervised option the memo describes.

Then look at the weeks ahead and ask what your child would be proud to show you on the first day of Term 1.