The Opposition has now faulted the government over the newly unveiled university and colleges funding model, claiming that it has denied over half a million students an opportunity to continue with their education.
In a statement issued by National Assembly Minority Leader Opiyo Wandayi, the opposition wants President William Ruto’s government to suspend the new funding model warning that it will increase college dropouts and increase fee burden to parents amidst the harsh economy.
Citing over 600,000 KCSE candidates who missed a slot in the 2023 university intake, Wandayi implores the Kenya Universities and Colleges Central Placement Service (KUCCPS) to open another review window so that the students can be absorbed into tertiary institutions.
“The Kenya Kwanza government announced a new funding model that has created confusion and dashed hopes for thousands of youth who sat KCSE exams in 2022. By Government’s own admission, out of the 881,416 learners who sat KCSE exams in 2022, almost 600,000 did not apply to KUCCPS to join Universities or Colleges,” Wandayi noted.
“We demand, therefore; the KUCCPS opens immediately for a 3rd review to give a chance to the over 600,000 who missed this life-changing government service and the Kenya Kwanza Government halts forthwith the new Funding Model and improves on the tried and tested models that support youths of this country access the all-important university/college education,” he stated.
The Ugunja MP accuses the current regime of mischief in rolling out the new model saying it intends to privatize institutions with the intention of extorting money from unsuspecting citizens.
According to the lawmaker, Kenya Kwanza has not laid out accountability guidelines and disclosed the mode of repayment of loans and thus the model may inconvenience future graduates with hefty loans.
“From the foregoing, it is clear that the Kenya Kwanza Government is keen on taking any shortcuts in sight as long as there are profits and as long as it can be passed conveniently as a lie to unsuspecting Kenyans,” Wandayi said.
“Needless to say, the beneficiaries of this developing fiasco are the universities and Kenya Kwanza honchos doing business with universities who will receive billions of shillings from struggling students and poor households even in the absence of any accountability as to the quality of learning or relevance to the job market of some of the highly costed courses.”
He added: “The aftermath of this bad policy by the Kenya Kwanza government will be jobless graduates chocking in loans whose interest rates have not been disclosed or at worst thousands of college drop-outs from the high cost of acquiring a university education.”
In the model by Kenya Kwanza, students will be banded according to their financial and economic strengths with those deemed vulnerable or very needy getting 100% government funding through scholarships and loans, while those deemed needy and less needy getting 93% government funding with families or households paying 7%.
“The purported new funding model has fraudulently shifted the burden of funding college studies from government and placed it squarely on the shoulders of parents and learners through expensive loans. It is official that those who do not fall under the Vulnerable and Needy categories will meet up to 62% of the cost of their studies as government conveniently carries 28% of the cost,” added Wandayi.
Kenyans have also complained of the sudden rise and wide gap in fees for different courses in universities with a government-sponsored engineering course at JKUAT a year, going for Ksh. 336,000.
Article By Suzy Nyongesa.