By Erick Nyayiera
The government has backed the proposal by vice chancellors to increase fees in public universities to match the current economic circumstances at the institutions.
The Principal Secretary for university Education Simon Nabukwesi said parents should be ready to dig deeper into their pockets to make university education sustainable.
“To build capacity of our institutions we must invest in them. Parents and students are resisting the idea of putting in a little more to make university funding sustainable yet in high school, they pay Sh80,000 per year but want to pay only Sh16,000 for university education,” Nabukwesi said during a graduation ceremony at Jaramogi Oginga Odinga University of Science and Technology.
Vice chancellors and chairmen of university councils had asked Parliament to sanction the proposed fee increment to guarantee sustainability of the public institutions.
Nabukwesi said that in the proposed arrangement, the government will complement the fees to enable universities to provide quality education and be more competitive.
He said some institutions of higher learning were currently incapable of operating effectively because of the economic crisis brought about by the Covid-19 pandemic.
University students have threatened to go on strike if the proposal to triple tuition fees and slash loans is implemented.
In their proposal, the vice chancellors want undergraduate students to pay Sh48,000 annually up from Sh16,000.
The National Treasury endorsed the proposal during a meeting with the National Assembly’s Education Committee chaired by Busia Women Rep Florence Mutua in December last year. The meeting was attended by officials of universities and the Ministry of Education.
Treasury Principal Secretary Julius Muia and Nabukwesi acknowledged that universities were facing a financial crisis and the current fees structure should be reviewed to sustain the institutions.
Muia told the legislators that they would submit a Cabinet Paper containing the fees hike proposal as early as this month.
Currently, the government pays Sh70,000 annually in tuition fees, while students pay Sh16,000.
This is seen as underfunding of universities at 60 per cent rate against the required 80 per cent which has, over the years, plunged the institutions into financial crises.
Meanwhile, Ugunja MP Opiyo Wandayi has asked Parliament to reject the proposal to triple university fees, saying it would lock out the poor from university education.
Speaking in Bondo, Wandayi, who is also the Minority Whip, said the government should look for alternative ways of raising funds to sustain universities instead of increasing fees.
“The government has many avenues of raising funds for institutions of higher learning and one of them is dealing with wanton corruption,” Wandayi said.
Wandayi warned that raising the cost of higher education would widen the gap between the rich and the poor.
Students of Jaramogi Oginga Odinga University of Science and Technology have also opposed the plans to increase fees.
Led by their President Vincent Awiti, they said the students leaders were not consulted about the plan.
Speaking at a press briefing in Bondo town, Jaramogi Oginga Odinga University Students Association majority leader Evans Amayo said increasing fees could force some students to drop out.
