The Azimio La Umoja Team, and leader of minority Opiyo Wandayi has released a statement on new Gov’t police on University fee.
According to Opiyo Wandayi, in a press statement dated August 8th 2023, the Kenya Kwanza government announced a new funding model that has created confusion and dashed hopes for thousands of youth who sat KCSE exams in 2022By Gov’t’s own admission, Wandayi says, out of the 881,416 learners who sat KCSE exams in 2022, almost 600,000 did not apply to KUCCPS to join Universities or Colleges.
This accounts for 68 % of youths that the government of Kenya cannot account for.The cost of application that was placed at Ksh. 1500 per application for a young person to beplaced in a college coupled with lack of information about the process is now threatening the future of over half a million young people.
“Kenyans have further noted with shock and dismay the hefty fees and bloated fees structuresfrom Kenyan public universities. That it will cost a Kenyan household through a governmentsponsored Bachelor of Pharmacy programme in Maseno University Ksh 428,000 and Ksh.336,000 in JKUAT for an engineering course a year is outrageous.
“The new classification of citizens that has cunningly placed very few (296) in the category ofVulnerable and Very Needy and who will qualify for 100% support in scholarships and loans leaves the majority to struggle with huge student loans and parental burden. Needless to say that many children will drop out of university.
“The purported new funding model has fraudulently shifted the burden of funding collegestudies from government and placed it squarely on the shoulders of parents and learnersthrough expensive loans. It is official that those who do not fall under Vulnerable and Needycategories will meet up to 62% of the cost of their studies as the government conveniently carries 28% of the cost. These are the same parents that are struggling with the huge tax burdens that the disgraced Finance Act 2023 has yoked on their shoulders.” A statement seen by K47 digital news team read in part.
Wandayi detailed that under the previous model, the government was expected to meet 80% of the college fees while parents were to meet 20%. “We are told the new Model is informed by the failure of government to meet its 80 % obligation.” Begs the question, “is the remedy improving government commitment or is it to throw the entire burden to the youth and poor households?”
Needless to say, Wandayi says, the beneficiaries of this developing fiasco are the universities and Kenya Kwanza honchos doing business with universities who will receive billions of shillings from struggling students and poor households even in the absence of any accountability as to the quality of learning or relevance to the job market of some of the highly costed courses.
“The aftermath of this bad policy by the Kenya Kwanza government will be jobless graduates chocking in loans whose interest rates have not been disclosed or at worst thousands of college drop-outs from the high cost of acquiring a university education.”
Wandayi continued to claim that from the foregoing, it is clear that the Kenya Kwanza Governmernt is keen on taking any shortcuts in sight as long as there are profits and as long as it can be passed conveniently as a lie tounsuspecting Kenyans.
Azimio demand that; the KUCCPS opens immediately for a 3rd review to give a chance to the over 600000 who missed this life-changing government service, that the Kenya Kwanza Government halts forthwith the new Funding Model and improves on the tried tested models that support youths of this country access the all-important university/college education.
