Placed students won’t miss slots over unpaid household contributions: Migos » Capital News
NAIROBI, Kenya, Aug 21 — All 2024 KCSE graduates will not miss their placement slots in tertiary institutions on account of unpaid household contributios, the Ministry of Education has assured.
Jogoo House gave the assurance on Wednesday amid concerns that failure to pay the household fee component could have students forfeit their university admission.
Education Cabinet Secretary Julius Migos said no student should be turned back for non-payment of household contribution.
He told the Vice Chancellors to facilitate suitable accommodation arrangements for first year students, with a guarantee for the payment of necessary fees upon disbursement of the upkeep component of government funding to individual students.
He said the Ministry is working with the National Treasury to expedite requisite funding.
“Students with questions or appeals regarding fees and funding are encouraged to contact our teams at universities during admission or through the higher education portal,” he said assuring of the processing of appeals within three weeks.
The CS announced the extention of deadline for appeals to 31 December 2024 to accommodate those who may face delays in their applications.
The ministry welcomed recommendations from Parliament and other stakeholders to strengthen the New Funding Model and in improving the Means Testing Instrument (MTI).
“These directives reflect the Government unwavering commitment to ensuring that no deserving student is denied the opportunity to pursue higher education due to financial constraints,” he said.
He made the clarification amid anxiety over the fate of needy students set to join higher learning institutions over uncertainty over the ability of parents and guardians to raise required fee quotas.
Criticism
A section of education stakeholders has been criticizing the funding model for locking out the dreams of needy students
Lawmakers have proposed the amalgamation and consolidation of all funds and bursaries supporting needy students to arrest an apparent funding crisis in higher learning institutions.
Debate on the model which requires students to top up varying amounts to complement State funding unfolded as Principal Secretary State Department for Higher Learning Beatrice Inyang’ala appeared in an informal meeting before the National Assembly to deliberate on the funding model.
“All these resources come from the same source the diminishing public purse. MCAs giving bursary, the MP is giving bursary, the Governor is giving bursary, HELB is disbursing money,” Speaker Moses Wetangula who chaired the forum remarked.
“If you are able and it’s you to generate policy this house will be more than happy to turn it into law so that we can amalgamate these funds,” Wetangula said.
Funding gaps
Laikipia University Vice Chancellor who accompanied the PS assured that the consolidation of the funds will address the perennial issue of inadequate funding for higher learning institution students.
“The matter on whether University Education should be free, I report that this will be a policy issue which this Parliament and government needs to decide and make a decision on,” Prof Joseph Rotich told lawmakers.
This is even as the ineffectiveness of the Means Testing Instrument (MTI) used to classify students in different funding categories emerged with critics citing data inaccuracies and inadequate grading parameters.
The funding model places students in five bands using eight variables, including parents’ background, gender, course type, marginalization, disability, family size, and composition.
The model combines the variables to determine household needs and appropriate funding. However, parents and learners have decried mis categorization with a majority placed in band 4 and band 5.
PS Inyang’ala elaborated that some students had falsified information of the different parameters used in classification.
“We are dealing with an issue of inaccuracy of data. Without reliable data on income it is impossible to use data in the categorization of students,” she said.
The Principal Secretary defended the use of the new university funding model citing the successful rollout in 2023.
In 2023, 9,720 students appealed their funding categorization with only 5,087 students reporting success.
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