Monday, October 23, 2023 – President William Ruto has blasted some wealthy and salaried Kenyans who criticised his revised model of distributing funds from the Higher Education Loans Board (HELB) to tertiary students.
Speaking during a church service in Riruta yesterday, Ruto indicated that murmurs from some wealthy individuals disgruntled over his new HELB formulae had been brought to his attention.
In the new formulae, the Head of State had revised university fees upwards and changed the criteria through which students would benefit from the funding.
Some of the students stood to gain full scholarships while others would be required to foot the bill or get loans to fund their studies.
“We have added money to educate our TVET and University students. We have decided that we will not send money to universities for the students, we shall give the students scholarships,” he explained.
“We will figure out the needy students so that we can give them 100 per cent scholarships. Kenya is for all of us and we must factor in everybody.”
However, Ruto maintained that the new formulae targeted children from poor households. The new funding will cover both University as well as Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) students.
“There are leaders who claim the model demands students to foot the fees in universities. Listen, the people I want to pay their full school fees are the children of these wealthy people and of those with a salary. (The fees) is not a lot of money, it is Ksh25,000 per semester,” he added.
“You (wealthy people) used to pay Ksh200,000 school fees for students in academies and expensive high schools yet you complain about paying Ksh25,000 in the university.”
In May, the Head of State, after receiving recommendations from the Education task force led by Prof Raphael Munavu, indicated that universities will no longer receive the capitation per student.
The government will provide 59% scholarships, and 34% loans, while the student will pay only 7%.
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