The government has been faulted for coming up with new funding formula for Universities and Technical Vocation Education and Training (TVET) that has added more burden to parents.
Consumer Grassroot Association (CGA) Director Alice Kemunto has said the government did not carry out public participation or a survey on the formula and parents have no idea how it is applied.
She said the public has a right to be involved in issues that affect them and the government must follow the constitution when coming out with such regulations.
Kemunto who was speaking during a Food Safety and Consumer Rights Workshop in Ongata Rongai Kajiado North sub-county said the government had also increased taxes even after a majority of Kenyans rejected the increase.
“The govt should have come out with strategies to improve the livelihood of Kenyans before increasing the taxes, the president should change his mind,” she said.
The director noted that the association has been sensitizing Kenyans around the country on their rights and the govt must respect the rights of every Kenyan.
The new funding formula has created confusion, it will see households pay more for higher education and will block hopes for thousands of students who sat for KCSE exams in 2022.
Educational experts say the government’s new model lacks practicability and will receive a lot of challenges. It is not clear about the formula the government will use to identify if students are needy or not.
In the new model, the government categorized students into different categories, vulnerable, extremely needy and less needy/able.
Learners categorized as vulnerable and extremely needy will be the biggest beneficiaries, they will be fully funded by the govt. Out of a number of students who were enrolled in university this year only 45,000 students fall under these categories, in the old formula all students with c + got funding from the government.
Kenya Universities and Colleges Central placement service revealed that 870,561 candidates were eligible for universities and colleges places but only 285,698 submitted applications.
Around 23,000 students snubbed the placement exercise despite scoring a university entry mark of C+ and above.
Some Universities have already issued admission letters to students indicating that the govt will only fund the new student for two academic years and they can now revise the fees structure at any time and when necessary.
By Obegi Malack
Get more stories from our website: Education News
To write to us or offer feedback, you can reach us through: editor@educationnews.co.ke
You can also follow our social media pages on Twitter: Education News KE and Facebook: Education News Newspaper For timely updates.
