By Vostine Ratemo
Education Cabinet Secretary Ezekiel Machogu has asked education stakeholders to submit recommendations to the Presidential Working Party on Education Reforms (PWPER) that will help public and private universities offset their debts.
Speaking during the opening of the first Biennial Kenya Universities Funding Conference today at the Pride Inn Flamingo, Mombasa County, Machogu said that public universities across the country are indebted to a tune of Ksh 56 billion.
The sum is in form of staff pensions and statutory deductions such as Pay As You Earn (PAYE) and NHIF.
He noted that with the current sorry state of affairs, majority of universities are having it rough with their primary mandate of teaching and research.
The PWPER championed by President Ruto is mandated to look for solutions by reviewing and recommending legislation to facilitate the amalgamation of HELB, TVET and Universities Fund Boards with a view of harmonizing and merging all tertiary education funding entities.
With the increasing numbers of learners qualifying for direct entry in different universities since 2017, the government is finding it hard to fund the current 449,961 students and the number is expected to shoot up to 599,349 by September this year when 2022 KCSE candidates join the institutions during the September intake.
In this financial year, the funding deficit for public and private universities is at Ksh 15,273,249,996 and Ksh 20,305,673,883 respectively.
At the same time, Machogu said that apart from the government striving to get the universities’ funding, governance and management of various universities should be reviewed.
