Nairobi — Nairobi County Government has banned Early Childhood Development Education (ECDE) graduation ceremonies in all public schools across the county on grounds that parents are being fleeced.

Nairobi Education Executive Janet Ouko on Tuesday said this is part of measures to ensure that ECDE in all the public schools in the county is completely free giving access to education for all children.

"We have noted with concern that schools are planning ECDE graduation ceremonies and charging parents between Sh1,000 and 1500. This is against the spirit of free ECDE which the county is implementing. We have therefore issued a ban on those ceremonies especially if they attract a charge to the parents," said Ouko.

In June this year, Nairobi Governor Mike Sonko launched the free programme for ECDE and ordered scrapping of all levies in all the 205 ECDE centres.

Each ECDE student in public schools was allocated a capitation of Sh3,815.

This initiative is expected to increase the enrolment from the current 15,295 children to about 17,000 children by close of the year.