Free University in varsities a mirage over financial burden, education agencies say » Capital News
NAIROBI, Kenya Nov 6 – President William Ruto’s promise on free university promise will continue to be a mirage over crippling funds with the university funding agencies saying it will cost the government Sh990 Billion annually to fund higher learning students.
With the current regime facing liquidity issues, the University Fund (UF) Chief Executive Officer George Monari dismissed assertions on free education for varsity students saying its not economically viable at the moment.
“Its going to be very difficult to have free university education in the country as that’s why we moved from the differentiated unit cost model to the new university funding model which is all about equity. We would require Sh 990 Billion to carry out the proposal,” Monari told lawmakers.
He was responding to issues raised by MPs before the National Assembly Public Investment Committee on Governance and Education accompanied by Kenya University and Colleges Central Placement Service (KUCCPS) CEO Mercy Wahome.
“Are we as a country going to achieve free university education like we have seen in other countries like the UK who have actualized the program?” questioned Kiminini MP Kaikai Bissau.
KUCCPS CEO opined that the burden of funding higher education globally has opened room for debate in the respective counties due to the high economic burden amidst harsh economic times.
“It going to be difficult to provide free university education because actually when you look trend of our neighboring countries like Uganda and globally like UK there is debate whether we can provide free education as they can’t continue provide for the students,” Wahome said.
This is even as UF CEO disclosed that the fate of funding for first and second cohorts of the new university funding model has been halted over conservatory orders issued to halt the implementation of the formula.
Monari defended the new funding formula amidst the uproar by various education stakeholders for the government to abolish the new university funding model saying the former differentiated unit cost (DUC) model propelled debt crisis in universities.
“The former DUC is not entirely good, it has actually led to debt crisis in universities amounting to Sh 74Billion and that’s why we introduced this funding model where we directly fund the students,” he said.
Lawmakers however pushed for the Ministry of Education to revert to the previous model saying the new university funding model has flopped citing legal battles that have led to the halt of the implementation of the model.
“You are saying we cant go back to the old university funding model but currently the new university funding model is not working.We actually don’t have a model,students are at home not knowing their fate,”said Embakasi West MP Mark Mwenje.
On 3rd October, the new university funding model faced a major setback after the High Court suspended its implementation, now in its second year.
If the government doesn’t appeal, they will be forced to go back to the drawing board as the decision leaves more than 250,000 students uncertain about the funding of their university
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