By Amoto Ndiewo
The announcement by Kenya Universities and Colleges Central Placement Service (KUCCPS) Chief Executive Officer Mercy Wahome that tertiary institutions can only admit 331,045 new students is a direct slap on the face for education CS Prof George Magoha’s initial statement that all students who sat KCSE in 2020 would join different higher institutions of higher learning depending on their grades.
747,161 students sat KCSE in 2020 and 143,140 students scored C+ and above thus meeting the university entry grade .This leaves out 604,021 students scoring below the minimum university entry grade.
However, KUCCPS Chief Agnes Mercy Wahome’s recent announcement of 331,045 chances available in tertiary institutions means 272,976 students are left out in the cold.
Wahome said with application currently on going KUCCPS will apply first come first served basis in Technical and Vocational Educational Training Institutes (TVET) entry under government sponsorship.
According to former Garissa CExecutive Secretary Ibrahim Atosh the disparity means that many students risk missing furthering their education especially those from poor background.
‘’It means that if they miss KUCCPS they have to seek to join the expensive private institutions as self-sponsored students,’’ he said.
Adding insult to injury he said is the announcement by Higher Education Loans Board (HELB) that it cannot sponsor all the students who sat for KCSE in 2020.
‘’To avoid all these stress students should act with speed and apply as early as possible, the early bird catches the worm, ’’ advised Atosh.
However, Atosh was not pessimistic that the private wing institutions cannot take the whopping 272,976 students who may have neither made the grade nor have the money to foot the huge bill.
‘’With the due respect, the Ministry of Education ought to go back to the drawing board,’’ he said.
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