National Parents Association (NPA) has called on the government to intervene in the recent ruling by the court that blocked the implementation of the new university funding model to enable the students affected by the ruling to proceed with their education.
The Association’s National Chairman David Silas Obuhatsa has stated that currently parents have no money to pay their children’s fee and the standoff is currently affecting majority of them considering that a good number of students miss classes.
“NPA is urgently calling on the government to persuade the courts that ruled against the new university funding model to consider lifting the order to enable the students to get funds and settle back in college,” said Obuhatsa.
“These are our children and whatever we decide towards their education provision should be of help rather than destruction. Right now parents have no money to support these students. The students are missing classes meaning that their stay in college will be longer than expected because of lack of funding,” he added.
Obuhatsa has at the same time raised concern on the increased university lecturer’s strike noting that the trend will affect students, adding further that the delayed funding will worsen the situation.
READ ALSO:
“We have seen in the past some students taking several years in our universities without graduating and indeed it’s very painful. Our children are meant to complete university and support their families. It’s now becoming a tradition that to complete university education in Kenya, one must go through suffering instead of joy,” decried Obuhatsa.
“We have some students who entirely depend on government funding for them to get to class without this, their education is at crossroads. Many students have been forced to get involved in lives that they would not have wished to take on just because they cannot get funds to stay in universities and learn,” he added.
Last year government freezed funding for over 200,000 students under the new funding model after a court order in October which declared the new funding model illegal.
Geoffrey Monari, Chief Executive Officer of the University Fund Board, explained that they were forced to stop the disbursements to higher education institutions in compliance with the court order.
The High Court has quashed the new university funding model saying it is discriminatory and violates students’ legitimate expectation.
Justice Chacha Mwita of the High Court in December said the government introduced the new funding model without public participation, despite the significant impact it would have in university education.
By Roy Hezron
Get more stories from our website: Education News
To write to us or offer feedback, you can reach us at: 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.
>>> Click here to stay up-to-date with trending regional stories
